Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79. | | | | Southern States: Newport News, Va. | | A Nameless Grave | | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) |
| | | “A SOLDIER of the Union mustered out,” | |
| Is the inscription on an unknown grave | |
| At Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave, | |
| Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout | |
| Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout | 5 |
| Of battle, when the loud artillery drave | |
| Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave | |
| And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt. | |
| Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea | |
| In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame | 10 |
| I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn, | |
| When I remember thou hast given for me | |
| All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name, | |
| And I can give thee nothing in return. | | | | |
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