| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
54 FOLK-SONGS OF TEE CIVIL WAR.
We reached in six hours the long-promised land, For 't was only nine miles to the Junction.
There were not many attempts to describe the battles in which the soldiers took part, and they were left to the poets, who did not see them, and had to depend, not very successfully, upon their imagination. There was, however, a ballad of the Seven Days' Fight before Richmond, evidently written by a soldier, and of some force and vigor. It begins: —
Away down in old Virginny many months ago, McClellan made a movement and made it very slow. The Rebel Generals found it out and pitched into our rear ; They caught the very devil, for they found old Kearney there.
In the old Virginny low-lands, low-lands, The old Virginny low-lands, low.
The bard details the fights as though they were a succession of Union victories, and concludes with a defense of General McClellan: —
Now all you politicians, a word I have for you, Just let our little Mac alone, for he is tried and true ; For you have found out lately that he is our only hope, For twice he saved the Capitol, likewise McDowell and Pope.
The enthusiasm aroused by General McClellan among the rank and file of the Army of the Poto- |
||