Category: Biographies
To Arms! To Arms! Our country calls for aid, Of faithful sons an offering must be made. From every hamlet in the loyal North, Her sturdy yeomen in their strength go forth; Mechanics, merchants, all professions too, Give up the arts of peace, another to pursue.
To Arms! To Arms! Our country calls for aid, Of faithful sons an offering must be made. From every hamlet in the loyal North, Her sturdy yeomen in their strength go forth; Mecha...
2. CHAPTER II.They turned from home, from wife and child, And all that life held sweet, Into the hell of battle, calm They walked with steady feet, Resolved for wounds and pain and death; In...
3. CHAPTER III.And we marched away to join the fray, Where the work of death was done, And soon we stood where the battle clouds Hid the face of the mid-day sun.
4. CHAPTER IV.One summer morning a daring band Of rebels rode into Maryland. Over the prosperous, peaceful farms, Sending terror and strange alarms, The clatter of hoofs, and the clang of arms.
5. CHAPTER V.My company was detailed to guard the ammunition train on its way back into Virginia. Before starting on the march, we had general orders read to us, forbidding all foraging in M...
6. CHAPTER VI.The Army of the Potomac, on November 10th, 1862, was massed near Warrington Virginia, where General McClellan was relieved from command of the army. I shall never forget the gri...
7. CHAPTER VII.Of all the terrible sights of war, The worst and most fearful sight, Is the stubborn struggle of gallant men In brave but unequal fight! The useless charge and the shattered ran...
8. CHAPTER VIII.Ah I see you once more in your camp by the way; Yes, again do I hear your guns in the fray! In those tangled old woods you stood there in line, While the foe was advancing! Ah b...
9. CHAPTER IX.After the battle of Chancellorsville, the thirty-second Massachusetts was detailed for guard duty on the railroad to Acquia Creek. We remained here but a short time however, for...
10. CHAPTER X.God send us peace! And where for aye the loved and lost recline, Let fall, O South, your leaves of palm, O North, your sprigs of pine! But when with every ripened year, we keep...
11. CHAPTER XI.We wait for the bugle, the night winds are cold, The limbs of the soldiers feel jaded and old. The field of our bivouac is windy and bare, There is lead in our joints, there is...
12. CHAPTER XII.You ask me about our daily life, and now, while “All is quiet upon the Potomac,” I will try to give you some idea of company B’s life in camp. Reveille is sounded at sunrise; ou...
13. CHAPTER XIII.Two years have passed; those gallant men Have kept the oath that they made then. On many a field their valor’s shone, On many a field their bones are strewn; They’ve bravely fou...
14. CHAPTER XIV.From every height our banners bright, their flashing folds display! The trumpet’s tongue is jubilant with stirring notes today. The cannon and the merry bells join with our vast...
15. CHAPTER XV.In that valley down there, where the wild ivies creep, The night birds stand sentry o’er comrades asleep, Their graves are now sunken, the headboards decayed, And the trenches a...
16. CHAPTER XVI.Through a vista bright of the years long fled, By the flag-decked graves of our comrades dead, By the tints of summer, and the winter’s white, By the sheen of noon, and the shad...
17. CHAPTER XVII.Yes, it all appears to my mind like a dream, How we filed out of camp, and forded that stream. Through the storm we have struggled, by day and by night; For our flag and our cou...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.That starry banner blazed afar, The ensign of the free; The beacon light of millions past, And millions yet to be. Thy father loved its shining folds, He followed where they wav...
19. CHAPTER XIX.On the 3rd of June, before daylight, we were called up to do our part in the battle of Cold Harbor. The troops that had relieved us at the front the day before had been driven f...
20. CHAPTER XX.What wonder if the mouth is grim, That said so many swift “Goodbyes?” Life’s common words are idle breath, Beside those earnest battle cries. What wonder if the gaze is dim, And...
21. CHAPTER XXI._June 1, 1864._ Sunset. Another battle has begun, and brave men are now falling for their country and their homes. Ah, many a heart will mourn when they hear of this hour’s hist...
22. CHAPTER XXII.“And this is what it means, to earn The title ‘Veteran’ on a coat; To march through flood and field, or lie Where rebel rifles sweep the moat; To serve the guns in rifle pits; T...
23. CHAPTER XXIII.On the 16th of August we were relieved from the trenches. On the 18th we made an attack on the Weldon railroad, in order to cut off the supplies of the rebel forces in front of...
24. CHAPTER XXIV.The whizzing shell may burst in fire, The shrieking bullets fly The heavens and earth may mingle grief, The gallant soldier die, But while a haughty rebel stands, No peace! For...
25. CHAPTER XXV.New Years day 1865 found the 32nd Mass. living in their log huts on the Jerusalem plank road, one mile in rear of our line of works in front of Petersburg. Here we worked buildi...
26. CHAPTER XXVI.About the 18th of February I sent in an application for a furlough; I hardly expected to get it, as all furloughs had been refused, except in some cases, where an exceptional re...
27. CHAPTER XXVII.Upon that southern battle-field, One well remembered day, I wore the loyal Union blue, And he, the rebel gray; All day in conflict fierce and wild, Were mingled blue and gray, A...
28. CHAPTER XXVIII.They yield, they turn, they fly the field, We smite them as they run; Their arms, their colors are our spoil, The furious fight is done! Across the plain we follow far, And back...
29. CHAPTER XXIX.They are coming from the wars, They are bringing home their scars, They are bringing back the old flag too in glory; They have battled long and well, And let after ages tell, Ho...