VIRGINIA'S DEAD by Cornelia J.M. Jordan

Proud mother of a race that reared The brave and good of ours, Lo! on thy bleeding bosom lie Thy pale and perished flowers. Where'er upon her own bright soil Hosts meet their blood to shed-- Where brightly gleams the victor's sword, There sleep Virginia's dead. And when upon the crimsoned field The cannon loudest roars, And hero-blood for liberty A streaming torrent pours; Where fiercest grows the battle's rage And Southern banners spread; Where minions crouch and vassals kneel, There sleep Virginia's dead. Where bright Potomac's classic wave Rolls softly to the sea, And Shenandoah's sweet valley smiles In her captivity; Where Mississippi sullen rolls His foaming torrent bed, And Tennessee's smooth ripples break, There sleep Virginia's dead. And where mid dreary mountain heights The Frost-king sternly sate, As Garnett cheered his legion on And nobly met his fate; Where Johnston, Lee and Beauregard, Their gallant armies led, Through winter snows and tropic suns, There sleep Virginia's dead. And where through Georgia's flowery meads The proud Savannah flows, As soft o'er Carolina's brow Atlantic's pure breeze blows; Where Florida's sweet tropic flowers Their dewy fragrance shed, And night-winds sigh through orange-groves, There sleep Virginia's dead. Where Louisiana's eagle eye Frowns darkly on her chains, And proud New Orleans' noble streets The Despot's heel profanes-- Where Virtue shrinks in dread dismay And Beauty bows her head, While Valor spurns th' oppressor's yoke. There sleep Virginia's dead. 'Neath Alabama's sunny skies. On Texas' burning shore, Where blooming prairies brightly sweep Missouri's bosom o'er, Where bold Kentucky's lion heart Leaps to her Morgan's tread, And tyrants quail at Freedom's cry, There sleep Virginia's dead. And where the Ocean's trackless waves O'er pallid corpses sweep, As mid the cannon's deafening peal, Deep calleth unto deep; Wherever Honor's sword is drawn And justice rears her head-- Where heroes fall and martyrs bleed, There sleep Virginia's dead. August 13, 1862


Postwar Remembrances


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Last modified 18-April-2001