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Posts Tagged ‘north’

Civil War Deaths by Dennis Allen Lange

Posted in Civil War Poems, My Poems, tagged bard on the hill, battlefield deaths, Blue Gray, Civil War, confederacy, Dennis Allen Lange, disease, north, poems, poetry, rebels, south, union on June 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

civil war deaths
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When brother North fought brother South
…Oft in the other’s home,
The bodies fell on battlefields
…In woods and fields and loam.

The red plague on the battlegrounds,
…Spread by the buzzing bees,
Was still but half the total brought
…At rest, by dread disease.

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https://www.phil.muni.cz/~vndrzl/amstudies/civilwar_stats.htm

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Abraham Lincoln And Robert E. Lee by Dennis Lange

Posted in Civil War Poems, My Poems, Villanelle, tagged Abraham Lincoln, bard on the hill, blue, Civil War, Dennis Lange, different breed, Emancipation Proclamation, freed the slaves, general, gray, history, nation's best, north, pedigree, poems, poetry, president, rebels, Robert E. Lee, south, Ulysses S. Grant, union, villanelle on June 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The Civil War etched two men into history,
Head, shoulders o’er the rest, two of our nation’s best –
A president and gen’ral: Lincoln, Lee.

Men came to recognize their pedigree;
They were a different breed; both in their roles could lead.
The Civil War etched two men into history.

One led the North and let the slaves go free;
One led the armed in gray, a fox in ev’ry way –
A president and gen’ral: Lincoln, Lee.

Less Lincoln, North might cave and bend the knee;
Lee knew what Grant would do, as though the future knew.
The Civil War etched two men into history.

One set a course midst scorn like scalding tea;
The other sat astride the route the Blue would ride –
A president and gen’ral: Lincoln, Lee.

Men fell; some soared, and blood became a sea
As two great men arose midst all a nation’s woes.
The Civil War etched two men into history,
A president and gen’ral: Lincoln, Lee.

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No God In War by Dennis Lange

Posted in Civil War Poems, My Poems, tagged all that devils could wish for, bard on the hill, Blue Gray, Civil War, confederacy, Dennis Lange, fox, Griswoldville, hunter's prey, No God In War, north, poems, poetry, rear guard, rebels, Sherman's march to the sea, Southern cause, union on June 11, 2016| 2 Comments »

At Griswoldville, Blue’s Howard left behind
Rear guard to watch as his men moved away.
Some Rebels sniffed them out as hounds will find
The wily fox who is the hunters’ prey.

In close formation, Gray made its attack
With courage, but without a bit of art,
Straight toward the waiting guns which drove them back,
To charge twice more, and failing, then depart.

The Union soldiers went into the field
As victors, cheering loudly with broad smiles.
But what to them had till then been concealed
Froze lips – the fallen Gray in many piles.

As Southern cause was close to its last breath,
Youth and the age-ed for the war were grist.
Six hundred lay, in agony or death,
So green, these Gray, that Blue troops rarely missed.

At Griswoldville, one viewed the grisly scene
And grieving, said, “There is no God in war.”
And thinking of a mother’s mournful keen,
He said, “War’s what the devil wishes for.”

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Sonnet 98 – Special Orders 191 by Dennis Lange

Posted in Civil War Poems, My Poems, Sonnets, Uncategorized, tagged bard on the hill, Battle of Antietam, cigar wrapper, Civil War, Dennis Lange, generals, Harper's Ferry, lost paper, north, poems, poetry, rebel, Robert E. Lee, Sonnet 98, south, Special Order 191, Stonewall Jackson, union on March 4, 2016| 2 Comments »

Who knew one fallen leaf upon the grass
Could trip, at once, a hundred thousand men? –
One white canary singing with some sass,
Betraying him who wrote it with his pen.

To trap the Union army was Lee’s plan.
Three generals, a pitchfork with three tines,
And fat would fry in Harpers Ferry’s pan.
There was no flaw but man in Lee’s designs.

A copy of his orders for each chief
And Stonewall Jackson made one for his kin.
A copy came; an aide would keep that sheaf –
A souvenir he lost for Union men.

The wrapper of cigars, a paper small,
Fell to the ground; caused many men to fall.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Order_191

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Sonnet 94 – The Battle Of Hampton Roads by Dennis Lange

Posted in Civil War Poems, My Poems, Sonnets, Uncategorized, tagged bard on the hill, cannon balls, Civil War, Dennis Lange, history, ironclads, Merrimac, Monitor, north, poems, poetry, Sonnet 94, south, The Battle Of Hampton Roads, wooden ships on February 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The turtle from the North was small and fast,
The southern one not wieldy ‘cause of size.
Though they were lately species closely classed,
They pounded at each other ‘neath torn skies.

The day before, the southern turtle showed
That iron was far superior to wood.
That lesson was the first at Hampton Roads.
The second? Iron ‘gainst iron and both withstood.

Four hours hammering upon the hull.
The metal held; concussions racked the men.
They bled from nose and ears, their hearing dull –
Against the cannon balls, mere bowling pins.

The navies of the world now saw wood’s lack
Thanks to the Monitor and Merrimack.

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