Hurrah! Hurrah!
Next came General Meade, a slow old plug,
For he let them away at Gettysburg.
[1] An allusion to a statement in the address made by Pope, on taking command of the Army of Virginia, “I have come to you from the West where we have always seen the backs of our enemies.”
I think that there were other verses, and some of the above may have got distorted with the lapse of time. But they are essentially correct.
Here is the revised prayer of the soldier while on the celebrated “Mud March” of Burnside:—
“Now I lay me down to sleep
In mud that’s many fathoms deep;
If I’m not here when you awake,
Just hunt me up with an oyster rake.”