Thy chains—Virginia victrix still.[19]
There were yet others to whom the fall of the Confederacy was typified in the furling of its banner. Poems like “The Conquered Banner,” by Father Ryan, and J. C. M.’s “Cruci Dum Spiro, Fido,” and A. J. Requier’s “Ashes of Glory” are typical expressions of such spirits. Then there were those who, like D. B. Lucas, “In the Land Where We Were Dreaming,” began to regard the struggle as the passing of a spirit world with which had passed all chivalry and beauty.
There are many of these verses portraying the end, each slightly differing in spirit from the one before, each repaying careful study with the beauty of its melody, and as a class, forming the noblest group of the war poems, whose only companions may be the earliest of the “Cry to Arms” series. Yet these poems of defeat are infinitely the more appealing in that the fire and dash of the earlier verses has here given way to the dignity of sorrow. “For the people’s hopes are dead.”
Hundreds of poems written during the four years of conflict reflect either individual reactions to war conditions, or incidents of battle. Besides these there are the prison verses, humorous pieces, and the southern songs, which in no way concern the historical passage of the War. There are poems of personal feeling, for example, like the exquisite and tender “The Confederate Soldier’s Wife Parting From Her Husband” or Major S. Y. Levy’s “Love Letter,” or Fanny Downing’s “Dreaming.” There are poems that picture the life of the civilian population, like “The Homespun Dress” by Miss Sinclair, or the anonymous “Your Mission” which is of more than passing interest since in the South it was attributed equally to John R. Thompson, Mrs. Preston, Paul H. Hayne, and Mrs. Browning.[20] There are poems reflecting the ravages of the war on the families of the soldiers, like “Heart Victories,” “Somebody’s Darling,” “Reading the List,” “Volunteered,” and “The Unreturning.” One could continue the catalogue indefinitely.
The prison verse, while not extensive, is for the most part, of good quality. There are five men whose work may be considered as representative, S. Teackle Wallis, who was imprisoned at Fort Warren, and four at Johnson’s Island. Wallis’s “To The Exchanged Prisoners” was written in Fort Warren in July ’62, and is one of the first of the prison poems which we can identify as such. The others, Major A. S. Hawkins, Colonel Beuhring H. Jones, Colonel W. W. Fontaine, and Major George McKnight, (“Asa Hartz,”) wrote two years later, in ’64 and ’65. Hawkins was the author of many poems, all of them popular, “The Hero Without a Name,” “To Infidelia,” “True to the Last,” “Give Up,” “A Prisoner’s Fancy.” About the best known of Beuhring Jones’ verses were “To a Dear Comforter,” and the rather humorous “Rat den Linden.” Fontaine was the author of many poems, notably “The Countersign,” “Virginia Desolate,” and “The Cliff Beside the Sea.” It remained for “Asa Hartz” to while away his prison hours in writing lines so delightfully humorous, so free and swift moving, that it is difficult to believe they could have been written within prison walls. “Living or Dying,” “Will No One Write to Me?” “To Exchange-Commissioner Ould,” and “My Love and I” are among the best of his lighter verses: “Exchanged,” and “Farewell to Johnson’s Island” are of more sober temper. “My Love and I” is the best example of his work:
My love reposes on a rosewood frame—
A bunk have I;
A couch of feathery down fills up the same—
Mine’s straw, but dry;
She sinks to sleep at night with scarce a sigh—