Gettysburg: Charge Of The First Minnesota Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DDEEEFGHGHIHJJKJ LLKEEMNOEPEQE QRRSSSTTUUT EVUVEWXW XXYYYZA2ZZ YYB2YB2B2ZZC2C2 D2E2TF2F2KKC2C2EEVVE EE G2G2VH2H2VVG2G2EEWritten for and read at the Camp Fire of the G A R Department of | A |
Minnesota National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic at | B |
Minneapolis June | C |
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Ready and ripe for the harvest lay the acres of golden grain | D |
Waving on hillock and hillside and bending along the plain | D |
Ready and ripe for the harvest two veteran armies lay | E |
Waiting the signal of battle on the Gettysburg hills that day | E |
Sharp rang the blast of the bugles calling the foe to the fray | E |
And shrill from the enemy's cannon the demon shells shrieked as they flew | F |
Crashed and rumbled and roared our batteries ranged on the hill | G |
Rumbled and roared at the front the bellowing guns of the foe | H |
Swelling the chorus of hell ever louder and deadlier still | G |
And shrill o'er the roar of the cannon rose the yell of the rebels below | H |
As they charged on our Third Corps advanced | I |
and crushed in the lines at a blow | H |
Leading his clamorous legions flashing his saber in air | J |
Forward rode furious Longstreet charging on Round Top there | J |
Key to our left and center key to the fate of the field | K |
Leading his wild mad Southrons on to the lions' lair | J |
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Red with the blood of our legions red with the blood of our best | L |
Waiting the fate of the battle the lurid sun stood in the west | L |
Hid by the crest of the hills we lay at the right concealed | K |
Prone on the earth that shuddered under us there as we lay | E |
Thunder of cheers on the left dashing down on his stalwart bay | E |
Spurring his gallant charger till his foaming flanks ran blood | M |
Hancock the star of our legions rode down where our officers stood | N |
By the left flank double quick march | O |
We sprang to our feet and away | E |
Like a fierce pack of hunger mad wolves that pant | P |
for the blood of the prey | E |
Halt on our battery's flank we stood like a hedge row of steel | Q |
Bearing the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day | E |
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Down at the marge of the valley our broken ranks stagger and reel | Q |
Grimy with dust and with powder wearied and panting for breath | R |
Flinging their arms in panic flying the hail storm of death | R |
Rumble of volley on volley of the enemy hard on the rear | S |
Yelling their wild mad triumph thundering cheer upon cheer | S |
Dotting the slope with slaughter and sweeping the field with fear | S |
Drowned is the blare of the bugle lost is the bray of the drum | T |
Yelling defiant victorious column on column they come | T |
Only a handful are we thrown into the gap of our lines | U |
Holding the perilous breach where the fate of the battle inclines | U |
Only a handful are we column on column they come | T |
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Roared like the voice of a lion brave Hancock fierce for the fray | E |
Hurry the reserve battalions bring every banner and gun | V |
Charge on the enemy Colvill stay the advance of his lines | U |
Here by the God of our Fathers here shall the battle be won | V |
Or we'll die for the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills today | E |
Shrill rang the voice of our Colonel the bravest and best of the brave | W |
Forward the First Minnesota Forward and follow me men | X |
Gallantly forward he strode the bravest and best of the brave | W |
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Two hundred and fifty and two all that were left of us then | X |
Two hundred and fifty and two fearless unfaltering men | X |
Dashed at a run for the enemy sprang to the charge with a yell | Y |
On us their batteries thundered solid shot grape shot and shell | Y |
Never a man of us faltered but many a comrade fell | Y |
Forward the First Minnesota like tigers we sprang at our foes | Z |
Grim gaps of death in our ranks but ever the brave ranks close | A2 |
Down went our sergeant and colors defiant our colors arose | Z |
Fire At the flash of our rifles grim gaps in the ranks of our foes | Z |
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Forward the First Minnesota our brave Colonel cried as he fell | Y |
Gashed and shattered and mangled Forward he cried as he fell | Y |
Over him mangled and bleeding frenzied we sprang to the fight | B2 |
Over him mangled and bleeding we sprang to the jaws of hell | Y |
Flashed in our faces their rifles roared on the left and the right | B2 |
Swarming around us by thousands we fought them with desperate might | B2 |
Five times our banner went down five times our banner arose | Z |
Tattered and torn but defiant and flapped in the face of our foes | Z |
Hold them We held them at bay as a bear holds the hounds on his track | C2 |
Knee to knee shoulder to shoulder we met them and staggered them back | C2 |
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Desperate frenzied bewildered blindly they fired on their own | D2 |
Like reeds in the whirl of the cyclone columns and colors went down | E2 |
Banner of stars on the right Hurrah gallant Gibbon is come | T |
Thunder of guns on the left Hurrah 'tis our cannon that boom | F2 |
Solid shot grape shot and canister crash like the cracking of doom | F2 |
Baffled bewildered and broken the ranks of the enemy yield | K |
Panic struck routed and shattered they fly from the fate of the field | K |
Hold them We held them at bay as a bear holds the hounds on his track | C2 |
Knee to knee shoulder to shoulder we met them and staggered them back | C2 |
Two hundred and fifty and two we held their mad thousands at bay | E |
Met them and baffled and broke them turning the tide of the day | E |
Two hundred and fifty and two when the sun hung low in heaven | V |
But ah when the stars rode over we numbered but forty seven | V |
Dead on the field or wounded the rest of our regiment lay | E |
Never a man of us faltered or flinched in the fire of the fray | E |
For we bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day | E |
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Tears for our fallen comrades cover their graves with flowers | G2 |
For they fought and fell like Spartans for this glorious land of ours | G2 |
They fell but they fell victorious for the Rebel ranks were riven | V |
And over our land united one nation from sea to sea | H2 |
Over the grave of Treason over millions of men made free | H2 |
Triumphant the flag of our fathers waves in the winds of heaven | V |
Striped with the blood of her heroes she waves in the winds of heaven | V |
Tears for our fallen comrades cover their graves with flowers | G2 |
For they fought and fell like Spartans for this glorious land of ours | G2 |
And oft shall our children's children garland their graves and say | E |
They bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day | E |
Hanford Lennox Gordon
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