"Have you heard of our Union Cavalry,
As Glazier tells the story?
Of the dashing boys of the 'Cavalry Corps,'
And their daring deeds of glory?
"This modest volume holds it all,
Their brave exploits revealing,
Told as a comrade tells the tale,
With all a comrade's feeling.
"The Union camp-fires blaze anew,
Upon these faithful pages,
Anew we tremble while we read
How hot the warfare rages.
"We hear again the shock of arms,
The cannon's direful thunder,
And feel once more the wild suspense
That then our hearts throbbed under.
"The deeds of heroes live again
Amid the battle crashes,
As, Phœnix-like, the dead take form
And rise from out their ashes.
"Where darkest hangs the cloud and smoke,
Where weaker men might falter,
The brave Phil Kearney lays his life
Upon his country's altar.
"Kilpatrick's legions thunder by,
With furious clang and clatter,
Rushing where duty sternly leads,
To life or death—no matter!
"Oh, hero-warriors, patriots true!
Within your graves now lying,
How bright on History's page to-day
Shines out your fame undying!
"The pomp and panoply of war
Have vanished; all the glitter
Of charging columns, marching hosts
And battles long and bitter,
"Recede with the receding years,
Wrapped in old Time's dim shadow;
Where once the soil drank patriot gore,
Green, now, grow field and meadow.