Classic Poem

From year to year the contest grew,
Till slavery, glorying in her strength,
Again war's bloody falchion drew,
And sluggish freedom, roused at length,
Waked from her stupor, seized the shield,
And called her followers to the field.
And at that call they thronging came,
With arms of strength, and hearts on flame;
Answering the nation's call to arms,
The northern hive poured forth its swarms;
The lumbermen of Maine threw down
The axe, and seized the bayonet;
The Bay State's sons from every town,
Left loom and anvil, forge and net;
The Granite State sent forth its sons,
With hearts as steadfast as her rocks;
The stern Vermonters took their guns,
And left to others' care their flocks;
Rhode Island and Connecticut
Helped to fill up New England's roll,
And showed the pilgrim spirit yet
Could animate the Yankee soul.
The Empire State sent forth a host,
Such as might seal an empire's fate;
Even New Jersey held her post,
And proved herself a Union State.
The Key-Stone of the Union arch
Sent forth an army true and tried;
Ohio joined the Union march,
And added to the Nation's side
A force three hundred thousand strong,
While Michigan took up the song;
Wisconsin also, like the lakes,
When the autumnal gale awakes,
And rolls its surges on the shore,
Poured forth its sons to battle's roar.
The gallant State of Illinois
Sent forth in swarms its warlike boys.
On Indiana's teeming plain,
Thick as the sheaves of ripened grain,
Were soldiers hurrying to the wars
To battle for the Stripes and Stars.
From Iowa fresh numbers came,
While Minnesota joined the tide,
And Kansas helped to spread the flame,
And carry o'er the border side
The torch the ruffians once applied
When fiercely, but in vain, they tried
The people of their rights to spoil,
And fasten slavery on her soil.
From East unto remotest West,
From every portion of the North,
The true, the bravest, and the best,
Forsook their homes and sallied forth;
And men from every foreign land
Were also reckoned in that band.
The Scandinavians swelled the train,
The brave Norwegian, Swede, and Dane,
And struck as though Thor rained his blows
Upon the heads of haughty foes;
Or Odin's self had sought the field
To make all opposition yield.
Italia's sons, who once had cried
Loud for united Italy,
And struck by Garibaldi's side
For union and equality —
Obtained another chance to fight
For nationality and right.
The Germans came, a sturdy throng,
And to the bleeding country brought
Friends of the right, foes of the wrong,
Heroes in action as in thought,
Sigel, and Schurz, and many others,
Whose names shall live among the brave,
Till all men are acknowledged brothers,
Without a master or a slave.
Ireland's sons, as usual, came
To battle strife with shouts of joy,
With Meagher and Corcoran won such fame
As well might rival Fontenoy.
Briton and Frank, for centuries foes,
Forgot their struggles, veiled their scars,
To deal on slavery's head their blows,
Fighting beneath the Stripes and Stars.