The Army paused to rest awhile,
All hearts were light, each face a smile,
And jokes went round through rank and file, -

Perchance a wit roused up, and then
Played the buffoon for graver men;
Nor dreamed we of the future, when

The veterans well knew what it meant,
For Meade had re-enforcement sent
To Reynolds’ men, now well nigh spent

Our three days’ march was nearly done;
Foot sore and scorched ’neath burning sun,
We waited now the signal gun;

And presently there came a sound,
That filled the heavens and shook the ground,
And echoed wildly all around

"Fall in! Fall in!" The host uprose,
With one consent, to meet its foes; –
Thus did the morning dawn for those

What were our thoughts? – You ask in vain,
For scarcely two men felt the same;
Before us on the open plain –

Some thought of HOME, and raised the prayer:
"Father, this day our firesides spare,
And if we fall, in mercy care

And some with doubts and fears oppressed,
Others with thoughts of sin distressed,
And some said: "Comrades, Breast to Breast

Said Christian men: "We humbly pray,
0, God! for our success this day,
Help Thou the right, aid us to say,

As on we hurried came the cry
Of battling hosts for victory;
"Unfurl Your Colors!" Let them fly

We pass by scores the Boys in Blue,
Jaded and sick and wounded, too,
They’ll rest awhile, and then anew

"Fresh Troops! Hurrah!" rings over the field,
Now to the North, the South must yield;
We knew them not; their hearts were steeled

This was the turning point; if won
By Southern arms their work was done.
Were ours the day, a Northern sun

The cannon roar from every mound,
And horsemen fly at bugle sound,
While wounded men upon the ground

In ghastly heaps the dead were thrown;
In shapeless piles the wounded strewn;
Like fields of grain the men were mown

And still the carnage fiercer grew,
And yet the fight fresh troops renew,
And more the murderous bullets flew,

And still the strife throughout the day
Abates not ’tween the Blue and Gray,
At nightfall Thirty Thousand lay

The end has come. Let those who bled
Be e’er revered as honored dead.
Let Peace her glorious mantle spread

What of the Living? Were they not true
In time of need and danger, too?
They fought for Right, for Home, for You,

Honor them well, Old Comrades Brave,
They did their best the land to save,
Wealthy or Poor, their all they gave

If then these sufferings made us free,
And gave our bond men Liberty,
We’ll say: Thrice blessed the chastening be,

Let us in unity to-day,
Lift up the prostrate foe and say
The Northern Blue and Southern Gray

In well the PAST has been, or ill,
We have the glorious PRESENT still.
In FUTURE let us trust His will

Comrades, we send a brother’s cheer,
As you convene from far and near.
May this eclipse each former year

Live honest lives. Let every one
Be faithful ’till his time shall come,
Then heaven will surely "Welcome Home"

"God of our sires," within whose hand
The Nations rest, "like grains of sand."
Bless Thou our great and glorious land