Only A Private Killed Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CDADEFEF GCGCAHIH JKAKLCMC NONOAPAP LNINCQCQ RSBSTDAD PABAMDUD VWVWADAD AXWXADAD| The soldier was Louis Mitchell of Co st Minn Vols | A |
| killed in a skirmish near Ball's Bluff October | B |
| - | |
| - | |
| We've had a brush the Captain said | C |
| And Rebel blood we've spilled | D |
| We came off victors with the loss | A |
| Of only a private killed | D |
| Ah said the orderly it was hot | E |
| Then he breathed a heavy breath | F |
| Poor fellow he was badly shot | E |
| Then bayoneted to death | F |
| - | |
| And now was hushed the martial din | G |
| The saucy foe had fled | C |
| They brought the private's body in | G |
| I went to see the dead | C |
| For I could not think our Rebel foes | A |
| So valiant in the van | H |
| So boastful of their chivalry | I |
| Could kill a wounded man | H |
| - | |
| A musket ball had pierced his thigh | J |
| A frightful crushing wound | K |
| And then with savage bayonets | A |
| They pinned him to the ground | K |
| One deadly thrust drove through the heart | L |
| Another through the head | C |
| Three times they stabbed his pulseless breast | M |
| When he lay cold and dead | C |
| - | |
| His hair was matted with his gore | N |
| His hands were clinched with might | O |
| As if he still his musket bore | N |
| So firmly in the fight | O |
| He had grasped the foemen's bayonets | A |
| Their murderous thrusts to fend | P |
| They raised the coat cape from his face | A |
| And lo it was my friend | P |
| - | |
| Think what a shudder chilled my heart | L |
| 'Twas but the day before | N |
| We laughed together merrily | I |
| As we talked of days of yore | N |
| How happy we shall be he said | C |
| When the war is o'er and when | Q |
| With victory's song and victory's tread | C |
| We all march home again | Q |
| - | |
| Ah little he dreamed that soldier brave | R |
| So near his journey's goal | S |
| How soon a heavenly messenger | B |
| Would claim his Christian soul | S |
| But he fell like a hero fighting | T |
| And hearts with grief are filled | D |
| And honor is his tho' the Captain says | A |
| Only a private killed | D |
| - | |
| I knew him well he was my friend | P |
| He loved our land and laws | A |
| And he fell a blessed martyr | B |
| To our Country's holy cause | A |
| And I know a cottage in the West | M |
| Where eyes with tears are filled | D |
| As they read the careless telegram | U |
| Only a private killed | D |
| - | |
| Comrades bury him under the oak | V |
| Wrapped in his army blue | W |
| He is done with the battle's din and smoke | V |
| With drill and the proud review | W |
| And the time will come ere long perchance | A |
| When our blood will thus be spilled | D |
| And what care we if the Captain say | A |
| Only a private killed | D |
| - | |
| For the glorious Old Flag beckons | A |
| We have pledged her heart and hand | X |
| And we'll brave even death to rescue | W |
| Our dear old Fatherland | X |
| We ask not praise nor honors | A |
| Then as each grave is filled | D |
| What care we if the Captain say | A |
| Only a private killed | D |
Hanford Lennox Gordon
(1)
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