| War and History Non-Fiction posted July 6, 2020 |
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Black soldiers prove their bravery.
Fort Wagner - July 11, 1863
by HarryT
The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.
A sun sword streaks across
Choppy South Carolina sea
Colonel Shaw in command
Raises his saber as circling
Gulls screech sorrowful squawks
At the ready my black men in blue
The weight of their enslaved race
Heavy upon their chests, the
Mission to breach Wagner’s walls
Shaw stands in his saddle
Gives battle-ready orders,
“Buglers sound assembly call
Drummer boys to the rear
Unfurl the colors, my men in blue
Now forward at the quick step.”
Twelve hundred feet reply in rhyme
Single white voice gives a hearty cry
Growing swells of white support
“Hey 54th, give those bastards hell.”
“Onward, men at double quick time.”
Six hundred valiant black men
March on to enter destiny’s fight
Shots and shells from Fort Wagner
Rush at ‘em at an incalcuable rate
Mini-balls zinging, cannon balls blasting
Grapeshot smashing, flesh splattering
Bones shattering, men scattering,
Union charge stopped then staggering
Shaw shouts, “Take cover, my men,
Dig in, stay low.” Killing defending fire --
Dying left on the field, survivors
Crawl, dig, hunch low in trenches
Battle-scarred men are shaken
Tell each other it’s okay to cry
Sun slips behind fort walls
Voices lifting, praying and
Singing of Jesus and someday
Crossing the River Jordan
They admit they are frightened
Resolve fear won’t stop them
Under a silver sliver moon
Shaw gives the order, the
Surviving five hundred rise up
Snap bayonets in place
Slip past palmetto stakes
Snake up cooled sandy slopes
Minds ablaze with victory hopes
Shaw calls,
“Scale the walls, gain the fort,
Rally to the flag men …”
Five hundred rise and charge
Fusillades of chains and grapeshot swirls
Exploding at the soldiers in slaughtering waves
Crescendos of increasing Rebel hell-bent yells
Grisly ballet being danced upon Wagner’s stage
Colonel Shaw’s last order
Before his eternal sleep
“Oh, men, my brave men…Retreat
Bugler, bugler, sound Retreat!”
Early morn, a weeping Sun watches
Sister Sea swish the muck of death
Shaw, white officers and black heroes
Thrown with hateful glee into a
Single, watery, sand-pit grave
Then, now and forever in Union hearts
March the brave black and white men
of the courageous Massachusetts 54th.
Big Historical Event contest entry
A sun sword streaks across
Choppy South Carolina sea
Colonel Shaw in command
Raises his saber as circling
Gulls screech sorrowful squawks
At the ready my black men in blue
The weight of their enslaved race
Heavy upon their chests, the
Mission to breach Wagner’s walls
Shaw stands in his saddle
Gives battle-ready orders,
“Buglers sound assembly call
Drummer boys to the rear
Unfurl the colors, my men in blue
Now forward at the quick step.”
Twelve hundred feet reply in rhyme
Single white voice gives a hearty cry
Growing swells of white support
“Hey 54th, give those bastards hell.”
“Onward, men at double quick time.”
Six hundred valiant black men
March on to enter destiny’s fight
Shots and shells from Fort Wagner
Rush at ‘em at an incalcuable rate
Mini-balls zinging, cannon balls blasting
Grapeshot smashing, flesh splattering
Bones shattering, men scattering,
Union charge stopped then staggering
Shaw shouts, “Take cover, my men,
Dig in, stay low.” Killing defending fire --
Dying left on the field, survivors
Crawl, dig, hunch low in trenches
Battle-scarred men are shaken
Tell each other it’s okay to cry
Sun slips behind fort walls
Voices lifting, praying and
Singing of Jesus and someday
Crossing the River Jordan
They admit they are frightened
Resolve fear won’t stop them
Under a silver sliver moon
Shaw gives the order, the
Surviving five hundred rise up
Snap bayonets in place
Slip past palmetto stakes
Snake up cooled sandy slopes
Minds ablaze with victory hopes
Shaw calls,
“Scale the walls, gain the fort,
Rally to the flag men …”
Five hundred rise and charge
Fusillades of chains and grapeshot swirls
Exploding at the soldiers in slaughtering waves
Crescendos of increasing Rebel hell-bent yells
Grisly ballet being danced upon Wagner’s stage
Colonel Shaw’s last order
Before his eternal sleep
“Oh, men, my brave men…Retreat
Bugler, bugler, sound Retreat!”
Early morn, a weeping Sun watches
Sister Sea swish the muck of death
Shaw, white officers and black heroes
Thrown with hateful glee into a
Single, watery, sand-pit grave
Then, now and forever in Union hearts
March the brave black and white men
of the courageous Massachusetts 54th.
Choppy South Carolina sea
Colonel Shaw in command
Raises his saber as circling
Gulls screech sorrowful squawks
At the ready my black men in blue
The weight of their enslaved race
Heavy upon their chests, the
Mission to breach Wagner’s walls
Shaw stands in his saddle
Gives battle-ready orders,
“Buglers sound assembly call
Drummer boys to the rear
Unfurl the colors, my men in blue
Now forward at the quick step.”
Twelve hundred feet reply in rhyme
Single white voice gives a hearty cry
Growing swells of white support
“Hey 54th, give those bastards hell.”
“Onward, men at double quick time.”
Six hundred valiant black men
March on to enter destiny’s fight
Shots and shells from Fort Wagner
Rush at ‘em at an incalcuable rate
Mini-balls zinging, cannon balls blasting
Grapeshot smashing, flesh splattering
Bones shattering, men scattering,
Union charge stopped then staggering
Shaw shouts, “Take cover, my men,
Dig in, stay low.” Killing defending fire --
Dying left on the field, survivors
Crawl, dig, hunch low in trenches
Battle-scarred men are shaken
Tell each other it’s okay to cry
Sun slips behind fort walls
Voices lifting, praying and
Singing of Jesus and someday
Crossing the River Jordan
They admit they are frightened
Resolve fear won’t stop them
Under a silver sliver moon
Shaw gives the order, the
Surviving five hundred rise up
Snap bayonets in place
Slip past palmetto stakes
Snake up cooled sandy slopes
Minds ablaze with victory hopes
Shaw calls,
“Scale the walls, gain the fort,
Rally to the flag men …”
Five hundred rise and charge
Fusillades of chains and grapeshot swirls
Exploding at the soldiers in slaughtering waves
Crescendos of increasing Rebel hell-bent yells
Grisly ballet being danced upon Wagner’s stage
Colonel Shaw’s last order
Before his eternal sleep
“Oh, men, my brave men…Retreat
Bugler, bugler, sound Retreat!”
Early morn, a weeping Sun watches
Sister Sea swish the muck of death
Shaw, white officers and black heroes
Thrown with hateful glee into a
Single, watery, sand-pit grave
Then, now and forever in Union hearts
March the brave black and white men
of the courageous Massachusetts 54th.
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