Loyal freemen, tried and true,
Gallantly they stand,
With the sacrifice in view
Battling for our land.
Battling for her highest good,
Battling for her life;
Even as their fathers stood
Ready for the strife.

Where the smoke of conflict clung
Like a dreary pall,
There was work for old and young
Work for one and all.
Work that stirred the nation’s heart
For the cannon’s boom
Heralded the hero’s part
In rebellion’s doom.

At the front ’mid shot and shell,
Marching side by side;
How the dead and wounded fell,
Soldiers true and tried.
Fathers, brothers, husbands, sons,
Harkened to one voice,
Freedom, speaking through her guns,
Bidding men rejoice.

Listen to the widow’s moan,
Children, too, must weep;
What to them can e’er atone
For the watch they keep?
Far away by lonely graves
Fragrant lilies bloom;
There our starry banner waves
O’er the soldier’s tomb.
* * * * *
But the living, down the years
Steadily they come,
Listen to the ringing cheers,
To the throbbing drum.
To the dirges wailing by
On the willing breeze,
How they swell and sob and die,
Over such as these.

Clear above that martial tread,
Sounds a bugle sweet,
Telling how they fought and bled;
Praising work complete.
Hail! ye comrades, honor crowned,
Moving on abreast,
To the final camping ground
And eternal rest.