WAIT FOR THE WAGON
[July 1, 1861]
A hundred thousand Northmen,
In glittering war array,
Shout, "Onward now to Richmond!
We'll brook no more delay;
Why give the traitors time and means
To fortify the way
With stolen guns, in ambuscades?
Oh! answer us, we pray."
Chorus of Chieftains—
You must wait for the wagons,
The real army wagons,
The fat contract wagons,
Bought in the red-tape way.
Now, if for army wagons,
Not for compromise you wait,
Just ask them of the farmers
Of any Union state;
And if you need ten thousand,
Sound, sound, though second-hand,
You'll find upon the instant
A supply for your demand.
Chorus—
No! wait for the wagons,
The new army wagons,
The fat contract wagons,
Till the fifteenth of July.
No swindling fat contractors
Shall block the people's way,
Nor rebel compromisers—
'Tis treason's reckoning day.
Then shout again our war-cry,
To Richmond onward move!
We now can crush the traitors,
And that we mean to prove!
Chorus—
No! wait for the wagons,
The fat contract wagons;
If red-tape so wills it,
Wait till the Judgment-day.
During the months of June and July, the Confederate forces had been assembling at Manassas Junction, about thirty miles from Washington. General Beauregard was in command, and had distributed them along a little stream called Bull Run, where they had thrown up strong intrenchments. On July 15, 1861, yielding to the popular clamor, General Scott ordered the forward movement of the Union army. On July 17 the army reached Fairfax Court-House, and next day a division moved forward to Centreville and attacked the Confederates intrenched along Bull Run. A sharp engagement resulted, and the Federals fell back.
At two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, July 21, 1861, the Union Army again moved forward for a grand attack. Each army numbered about thirty thousand men. The skirmishers soon got into touch, and the Confederates were driven back, but were rallied by the example of General T. J. Jackson, who with his brigade was "standing like a stonewall," as General Bee exclaimed, giving him his immortal sobriquet. The Union advance was checked, heavy reinforcements came up for the Confederates, and the Union regiments were finally swept from the field.
UPON THE HILL BEFORE CENTREVILLE
[July 21, 1861]
I'll tell you what I heard that day:
I heard the great guns far away,
Boom after boom. Their sullen sound
Shook all the shuddering air around;
And shook, ah me! my shrinking ear,
And downward shook the hanging tear
That, in despite of manhood's pride,
Rolled o'er my face a scalding tide.
And then I prayed. O God! I prayed,
As never stricken saint, who laid
His hot cheek to the holy tomb
Of Jesus, in the midnight gloom.
"What saw I?" Little. Clouds of dust;
Great squares of men, with standards thrust
Against their course; dense columns crowned
With billowing steel. Then bound on bound,
The long black lines of cannon poured
Behind the horses, streaked and gored
With sweaty speed. Anon shot by,
Like a lone meteor of the sky,
A single horseman; and he shone
His bright face on me, and was gone.
All these with rolling drums, with cheers,
With songs familiar to my ears,
Passed under the far-hanging cloud,
And vanished, and my heart was proud!