Iowa During the Civil War

CHARGES ON THE DEFENCES OF VICKSBURG

MADE MAY 22, 1863

LINES ON THE BRAVE DEAD

By a friend of Company E., Twenty-Second Iowa

Oh how solemn is the subject

On which I now wish to write;

Tis the fatal charge on Vicksburg,

Far more dark than ebon night.

Like a mighty surging billow,

As this sacred spot I tread.

So deep thoughts come rolling oer me

Here among the mighty dead.

Here lie husbands, lovers, brothers,

Sons and fathers in the tomb;

Far from loved ones they are buried,

Neath the deep and silent gloom.

Oh! the anguish of those mothers.

Wives, and daughters, lovers true,

While a deep and bitter anguish

Rends the hearts of sisters too.

But amid the general wailing,

Lo! I hear a plaintive moan;

Tis the voice of children crying,

"Ma, wont Pa again come home?"

"No my child, no more will Pa dear

dandle you upon his knee,

Far from us he now lies buried,

And his face no more well see.

He was fighting for his country,

To put wicked Rebels down:

When they shot him in the battle,

Killing him upon the ground."

"Ma, what made the Rebels shoot Pa?

When we all loved him so well:

And he was so kind and gentle:

Oh! How cruel that he fell."

"Ah my child, they wanted power:

Neither did they like to be

With the Northern States United.

Cause we loved true liberty.

Uncle George, and neighbor Townsend

Both were killed that fatal day,

So, no more will Uncle George bring

Little Willie here to play.

Many thousands dear are murdered

On the bloody battle field;

But we cant tell yet how many

Will have their death-warrant sealed."

Soldiers shed a tear of sorrow

With those loved ones far away.

While we feel a keen dear anguish

For the brave who fell that day.

Five upon the field of battle

Were shot dead in Company E;

Forty six within Regiment

Of the Twenty Second see;

Nine and twenty in the Regiment

Of the Twenty First were slain,

Eighteen in Wisconsin leventh

On the bloody field remain.

Nineteen in the ninety ninth

Illinois were there shot down;

Eighteen of the Thirty Third

Were left dead upon the ground.

Heres the Eighteenth Indiana,

Lost eight men on that sad day.

And the Eighth, from good old Hoosier,

Lost nineteen in that sad fray.

While the Forty Ninth from Hoosier

Lost but one upon the field;

Likewise one in this foul battle

From the Sixty Ninth was sealed.

But the Seventh from Kentucky,

Lost ten men in that sad charge,

While the Twenty Second Regiment,

Lost but threeits loss not large.

Four men from the One Hundred and Eighteenth

Illinois were killed that day;

While the Sixteenth from Ohio

Lost four men in the same way.

And the Forty Second Regiment

Had six men by the Rebels slain,

While the Hundred and Fourteenth

Left eight more there to remain.

But here is something

Which I am glad to pen,

The Hundred and Twentieth from Ohio

Came away with all its men.

Now brave soldiers, heres my story;

Of the dead no more Ill say.

But will just close for the present,

Saying to you all, good day.

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