Show ile b lue and the gr in mie ir PIT bivouac of the deada mzx rheo clore mi ara X 4 ull monument to tle tb e unknown CM I 1 war ward ad cemetery by ELMO SCOTT WATSON qia 9 Is the story of two men a southerner and a northerner it Is also the story of the two poems they wrote rote it Is a tale that can well be told as may 30 approaches for that date is memorial day on rebr february uary 11 1820 a son was born to kane 0 hara an irish political refugee who was living in danville in the blue grass region of Ren kentucky tucky the boy was named theodore 0 hara and when the war with mexico began he was a captain in the united states army by the time the war had ended he came back to the bluegrass a major there were other who came back also to rest in the soil of their native state when they were burled buried at frankfort major 0 hara standing on a grassy hillside in the midst of a great crowd recited a poem which he had written in tribute to his fallen comrades it was THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD the muffled drums sad roll has beat the soldiers last tattoo no more on life alfes s parade shall meet that brave and fallen few on fame fames s eternal camping ground their silent tents are spread and glory guards with solemn round the bivouac ot of the dead no rumor of the foe foes s advance now swells upon the wind no troubled thought at midnight haunts of loved ones left behind no vision of the morrow morrows s strife the warriors dream alarms no braying horn nor screaming fife at dawn shall call to arms their shivered swords are red with rust their plumed heads are bowed their haughty banner trailed in dust Is now their martial shroud and plenteous funeral tears have washed the red stains from each brow and the proud forms by battle gashed are free from anguish now the neighing troop the flashing blade the bugles stirring blast the charge the dreadful cannonade the din and shout are past nor wars wild note nor glory glorys a peal shall thrill with fierce delight those breasts that nevermore may feel the rapture of the fight like the fierce northern hurricane that sweeps his great plateau flushed with the triumph yet to gala gain came down the serried foe who heard the thunder of the fray break oer the field beneath knew well the watchword of that day was victory or death long had the doubtful conflict raged oer all that stricken plain for never fiercer fight had waged the vengeful blood of spain and still the storm of battle blew still swelled the gory tide not long our stout old chieftain knew such odds his strength could bide in that hour his stern command called to a martyrs grave the flower of his beloved land the nation s flag to save by rivers of their fathers gore his firstborn first born laurels grew and nd well he deemed the sons would pour their lives for glory too S dij I 1 many a norther s breath has swept 0 oer er angostura angosturas Ango s plain apa ong the pitying sky has wept ii tive the moldering slain the ravens raven s scream or eagles eagle s flight or shepherds pensive lay lone awakes each sullen height that frowned oer that dread fray t sons bons of the dark and bloody ground ye must not slumber there where stranger steps and tongues resound 1 along the heedless air four your own proud land s heroic soil shall be your fitter grave bhe claims from war his richest spoil the ashes of her brave thus neath their parent turf they rest far from the gory field borne to a spartan mothers breast on many a bloody shield the sunshine of their native sky smiles sadly on them here Z Vs a I 1 TT 5 f I 1 ad I 1 tt va f P a ell I 1 miles tinch and kindred eyes and hearts watch by the heroes sepulcher best rest on embalmed and fainted sainted dead dear as the blood ye gave no impious footstep here shall tread the herbage of your grave nor shall your glory be forgot while fame her record keeps or honor points the hallowed spot where valor proudly sleeps yon marble minstrels voiceless stone in deathless song shall tell when many a vanquished age hath flown the story how ye fell nor wreck nor change nor winter s blight nor time a remorseless doom shall dim one ray of glory a light that gilds your deathless tomb when in the spring of 1881 1861 the drums began beating the long roll again 0 ohara hara cast his lot with the south he ile served until the end of the war engaged in business at columbus ga then retired to a plantation in alabama where he died june 7 1867 in 1873 the kentucky legislature voted an appropriation to bring the body of her soldier poet back to the bluegrass the next year they buried him with military honors in corn com mon wealth cemetery in frankfort lie ile rests there beside his fellow soldiers for whom he wrote the poem that haa has become world famous and which has been called the perfect requiem of four N wars ars theodore 0 ohara hara a the bivouac of the dead sara P perfect requiem of fo four ur wars war s though 0 s poem was as it remained for another to become more particularly associated with the memorial day observance which grew out of the conflict of 1861 co in 1865 the women of columbus ga decorated the graves of their war dead and the following january the members of the ladles aid society there decided to perpetuate the custom they picked upon april 26 1866 as the date for their memorial day celebration so they held their memorial services in the cemetery on that date and decorated not only the graves of the confederate war dead but also those of some union soldiers burled there the next spring there appeared in a new york newspaper a brief paragraph which stated that the women of columbus miss have shown tl em selves impartial in their offerings made to the memory of the dead they strewed flowers alike on the graves of the confederate and of the national soldiers at that time a young mab named francis miles finch was practicing law in ithaca N Y born in he had been graduated from yale boharas to tomb in 1849 and as class poet had delivered a mem arable poem at the commencement exercises when he read the newspaper item about the th action of the women in columbus miss francis miles finch the lawyer became francis mile miles finch the poet again and in 1867 there ap feared in the atlantic monthly this poem THE BLUE AND THE GRAY by the flow of the inland river whence the fleets of iron have fled where the blades of the grave grass quiver asleep are the ranks of the deade under the sod and the dew waiting the judgment day under the one the blue under the other the gray these in the of glory those in the gloom of defeat all with the battle blood gory in the dusk of eternity meet under the sod and the dew waiting the judgment day under the laurel the blue under the willow the gray a from the silence of sorrowful hourd the desolate mourners go lovingly laden with fl flowers alike for the friend and the foe I 1 under the sod and the dew waiting the judgment day under the roses the blue under the lilies the gray so with an equal splendor the morning sun rays fall with a touch impartially tender on the blossoms blooming for all under the sod and the dew waiting the judgment day Brol dered with gold the blue t mellowed with gold the gray so when the summer calleta on forest and field of grain with an equal murmur falleth the cooling drip of the rain under the sod and the dew waiting the judgment day wet with the rain the blue wet with the rain the gray sadly but not with upbraiding the generous deed was done in the storm of the years that are fading no braver battle was won under the sod and the dew waiting the judgment day under the blossoms the blue under the garlands the gray no more shall the war cry sever or the winding rivers be red they banish our anger forever when they laurel the graves of our dead under the sod and the dw dew waiting the judgment day love and tears for the blue tears and love for the gray this poem became instantly popular it was reprinted in hundreds of newspapers throughout the land it was as set to music and sung as a paerl otic hymn A famous anthology of american poetry calls it a national classic in later years finch became a justice of the new ew york court of appeals helped organize cornell university was a member of its first board of trustees became dean of its law school in 1892 and held other positions of honor and trust until his death in 1907 but america does not remember the famous jurist and educator nearly so well as it remembers the man whose poetic message of reconciliation helped reunite a nation an I 1 heal the wounds of a great war 0 by western newspaper union |