From old fields; poems of the civil war

Front matter

Class _?S 2X0-4-

Book ^4f :

Copyright N°

Preface

In dedicating this book to the people of Kentucky, I do what would have pleased Mr. Shaler, for although he was in close sympathy with his adopted Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and at all times an earnest champion of its enlightenment and its noble institutions, yet when it was a question of elemental emotion, of the deeper ideals of life, he found himself back in the favoured land of his birth. Claiming the whole world as his own by divine right of sympathy, he professed to be at home everywhere: nevertheless, his associations with his native State, mellowed and made picturesque by hereditary traditions, were the surest and most enduring of his possessions, and as time wore on his spirit seemed to dwell there with strange peace and contentment. In that youthful, gallant, and victorious world — the world that gave to the Confederacy " The Orphan Brigade," whose prowess is celebrated in these pages — he liked to lose his personality in the general tendencies and accomplishments of its people. Imaginatively capable both of their defects and their virtues, he was in reality the incarnation of their highest type of gentleman, — the type to which Washington, Lee, Thomas, Farragut, and many others belonged, dutiful, just, dignified, and courageous men, equal to all social demands, and able to win inspiration from any and every call to duty.

viii Preface

He ascribed to Kentuckians a certain fine negligence and prodigality of nature common to large-hearted men who have faith in themselves and in the inexhaustible riches of the world. He especially approved the state of mind which made solicitude and excessive prudence the accessories and not the mainsprings of life. Above all, he valued in them the courage to be themselves, untrammeled by conventions or by undue concern for personal interests. It was these qualities which endeared his people to him.

A few evenings before sending to press the poems contained in this volume, my husband brought them to me to read once more. When I had finished, struck with the fact that some of his heroes were Confederates, I exclaimed : " What does this mean — and you an old Federal officer !" Laying down his long-stemmed pipe, for a moment he silently gazed into the fire. Then lifting his head, his usual alert glance dimmed with emotion, " Well," he said, " those brave lads were my companions in youth, and that's why, I suppose, they've claimed the right to be where I've put them — among my chosen men."

The end came before Mr. Shaler was able to correct or revise the proof of these poems ; for this service I am greatly indebted to his old friend and well-loved pupil, Mr. William R. Thayer.

Sophia P. Shaler.

Contents

Prologue i

Near the Front ....... 3

The Halted Battle ...... 9