Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79. | | | | Southern States: Rodman’s Point, N. C. | | Ready | | Phœbe Carey (1824–1871) |
| | | LOADED with gallant soldiers, | |
| A boat shot in to the land, | |
| And lay at the right of Rodman’s Point, | |
| With her keel upon the sand. | |
| |
| Lightly, gayly, they came to shore, | 5 |
| And never a man afraid; | |
| When sudden the enemy opened fire, | |
| From his deadly ambuscade. | |
| |
| Each man fell flat on the bottom | |
| Of the boat; and the captain said: | 10 |
| “If we lie here, we all are captured, | |
| And the first who moves is dead!” | |
| |
| Then out spoke a negro sailor, | |
| No slavish soul had he: | |
| “Somebody ’s got to die, boys, | 15 |
| And it might as well be me!” | |
| |
| Firmly he rose, and fearlessly | |
| Stepped out into the tide; | |
| He pushed the vessel safely off, | |
| Then fell across her side: | 20 |
| |
| Fell, pierced by a dozen bullets, | |
| As the boat swung clear and free;— | |
| But there was n’t a man of them that day | |
| Who was fitter to die than he! | | | | |
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