| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | May 1 | | Hooker ’s Across | | By George H. Boker (1823–1890) |
| | | | The crossing of the river May 1, 1863, on the eve of the battle of Chancellorsville by “Fighting Joe” Hooker is commemorated in this poem. |
|
|
HOOKER ’s across! Hooker’s across! | |
| Standards and guidons and lance-pennons toss | |
| Over the land where he points with his blade, | |
| Bristle the hill-top, and fill up the glade. | |
| Who would not follow a leader whose blood | 5 |
| Has swelled, like our own, the battle’s red flood? | |
| Who bore what we suffered, our wound and our pain,— | |
| Bore them with patience, and dares them again? | |
| Hooker ’s across! | |
| |
| Hooker ’s across! Hooker ’s across! | 10 |
| River of death, you shall make up our loss! | |
| Out of your channel we summon each soul, | |
| Over whose body your dark billows roll; | |
| Up from your borders we summon the dead, | |
| From valleys and hills where they struggled and bled, | 15 |
| To joy in the vengeance the traitors shall feel | |
| At the roar of our guns and the rush of our steel! | |
| Hooker ’s across! | |
| |
| Hooker ’s across! Hooker ’s across! | |
| Fears to the wind, with our standards, we toss, | 20 |
| Moving together, straight on, with one breath, | |
| Down to the outburst of passion and death. | |
| O, in the depths of our spirits we know | |
| If we fail now in the face of the foe, | |
| Flee from the field with our flag soiled and dim, | 25 |
| We may return, but ’t will not be with him! | |
| Hooker ’s across! | | | |
|
|
|
