d Glory At 
 Gettysburg 
 
 1863 :: 1913 
 
 Souvenir Poem of the Fiftieth Anniversary 
 of the Great Battle 
 
 By CAPTAIN R. K. BEECH AM 
 
 of the "Iron Brigade" 
 
 Author of 
 
 " Gettysburg— The Pivotal Battle of the Civil War" 
 
 (Published by A. C. McClurg &, Co., Chicago) 
 

 DEDICATED 
 TO THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 By 
 
 CAPTAIN R. K. BEECHAM 
 
 The Iron Brigade Poet 
 
Old Glory At Gettysburg 
 
 1863 : 1913 
 
 A 
 
 FIRST CANTO -1863 
 
 Across the river from the Southland came 
 A mighty hosT, equipped and armed for war, 
 
 With flaunting banners in the sky aflame, 
 Borne on a surge of sleel, gleaming afar; 
 
 And at its head a war-wise chieftain rode, 
 Army and steed obeying his firm rein ; 
 
 A wild ambition his proud heart o'erflowed— 
 The plaudits of his country's foes to gain, 
 By smiting her imperial heritage in twain. 
 
 That chieftain saw himself a conqueror, 
 A continent low-bending 'neath his sway ; 
 
 The demi-god of Occidental war, 
 A mightier than Caesar, in his day; 
 
 He saw HIS NAME wide o'er the world displayed 
 He saw — in dreams, luring him to defeat— 
 
 The Nation's capital in ruins laid, 
 Her vanquished armies scattered in retreat ! 
 He saw the Great Republic proslrate at his feet ! 
 
But lo ! A radiant light around him shone ! 
 Athwart his van a form majeslic rose, 
 
 As from the battlements of heaven, thrown 
 In grand defiance of a Nation's foes ! 
 
 " The Stars and Stripes ! My Country's Flag !" 
 he said ; 
 " Emblem of Victory in days of yore ! 
 
 Beneath her folds, my sires fought and bled ; 
 Alas ! This day her triumph ends ; before 
 The sword of Lee, her glory pales forevermore !" 
 
 A madman's boa&,wrought in Ambition's heat! 
 Not vaunting wins, where sweeps War's wither- 
 ing breath; 
 
 A foeman.worthy of thy sleel, shall meet 
 And bid thee welcome, to the feasl of Death ! 
 
 From Penn's green woods gather the Blue and 
 Cray, 
 The hills and valleys with armed legions swarm; 
 
 In Battle's fierce, magnificent array 
 Their serried ranks th' opposing armies form, 
 And far and wide, in awful fury, bursls the sTorm ! 
 
 For three appalling days War's horrid roar 
 The firm hills shook, and shot and shrieking shell, 
 
 Drenched all the fair, green slopes with human 
 gore, 
 While rose the smoke of Battle's seething hell ! 
 
 But through that awful sTrife, time and again 
 The rifting clouds of sulph'rous smoke, revealed 
 
 The "Starry Flag of Liberty ;" and when, 
 Back from his la£f mad charge the foeman reeled, 
 Old Glory shone triumphant o'er that blood-bot 
 field ! 
 
O, Gettysburg ! Thy glory cannot fade ! 
 In thy great name heroic deeds must live, 
 
 And till the march of Time himself is stayed, 
 Shall inspiration to each patriot give ! 
 
 Thy rock-ribbed hills and granite shafts shall tell 
 Far down the ages ; how the loyal, brave 
 
 Defenders of the Union, fought and fell, 
 Their Country's grand integrity to save, 
 O'er which One Flag,01d Glory, shall forever wave 
 
 SECOND CANTO-1913 
 
 After Fifty Years 
 
 Now, half a century hath passed away 
 Since this historic field was won — and lost! 
 
 And here assembles on these hills today, 
 Only a remnant of war's ancient host ! 
 
 Tho' gone from earth forever, in their place, 
 From wild Atlantic t' broad Pacific's strand, 
 
 Gather unnumbered thousands of their race, 
 Where they had fought, in honor just to stand; 
 Called by the Patriotic Spirit of our land ! 
 
Fade from all hearts the color of their line 
 In old war days, so terrible and dark ; 
 
 Now, Blue and Gray in peaceful vestments 
 shine, 
 Or comrades then, or foes; (God save the mark !) 
 
 The stirring drum, calls us to arms no more ; 
 No more we form in battle's dread array ; 
 
 Foemen we parted here, the conflict o'er, 
 And after fifty years have passed away, 
 Upon the same field meet, as friends : we are 
 all gray ! 
 
 But there is One, that age doth not impair, 
 Nor danger daunt, nor conflict mar that form ; 
 
 Ordained of God, triumphant in mid-air 
 To calm the whirl-wind and subdue the storm ! 
 
 Leaders have failed, armies have passed away; 
 But still, above "Fame's Camping Ground," 
 appears 
 
 The Flag we guarded fifty years, today ; 
 Crimsoned with patriots' blood, bedewed in tears, 
 Old Glory grows in fame and beauty, with the 
 years ! 
 
 O, Sons and daughters of our South and North-- 
 This glorious land that Liberty reveres ! 
 
 With eyes unsealed, behold her shining forth 
 In love united, for a thousand years ! 
 
 Jointly we plant on this great battlefield, 
 Enriched with brothers' blood, the seed of Peace; 
 
 God of our Fathers ! vouchsafe prolific yield : 
 Let thoughts of civil strife forever cease, 
 And bid the greatness of Old Glory's reign increase 
 
m 21 
 
 Address 
 
 CAPTAIN R. K. BEECHAM 
 
 2624 Rucker Avenue 
 
 Everett, Washington 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 INI III III ill lllll ill! I; 
 
 013 701 939 5 ^ 
 
 Arranged and Produced by the 
 
 PUGET PRESS 
 
 In Everett ^gflfeu Washington