They may fight till the buzzards are gorged with their spoil,—
Till the harvest grows black as it rots in the soil,
Till the wolves and the catamounts troop from their caves,
And the shark tracks the pirate, the lord of the waves:
In vain is the strife! When its fury is past,
Their fortunes must flow in one channel at last,
As the torrents that rush from the mountains of snow
Roll mingled in peace through the valleys below.
Our Union is river, lake, ocean, and sky;
Man breaks not the medal when God cuts the die!
Though darkened with sulphur, though cloven with steel,
The blue arch will brighten, the waters will heal!
O Caroline, Caroline, child of the sun,
There are battles with fate that can never be won!
The star-flowering banner must never be furled,
For its blossoms of light are the hope of the world!
Go, then, our rash sister, afar and aloof,—
Run wild in the sunshine away from our roof;
But when your heart aches and your feet have grown sore,
Remember the pathway that leads to our door!
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana followed South Carolina's lead in seceding and seizing United States forts and arsenals. On February 4, 1861, the first Confederate congress met at Montgomery, Ala., and a few days later, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President, of the Confederate States.
JEFFERSON D.
You're a traitor convicted, you know very well!
Jefferson D., Jefferson D.!
You thought it a capital thing to rebel,
Jefferson D.!
But there's one thing I'll say:
You'll discover some day,
When you see a stout cotton cord hang from a tree,
There's an accident happened you didn't foresee,
Jefferson D.!
What shall be found upon history's page?
Jefferson D., Jefferson D.!
When a student explores the republican age!
Jefferson D.!
He will find, as is meet,
That at Judas's feet
You sit in your shame, with the impotent plea,
That you hated the land and the law of the free,
Jefferson D.!