William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
The Old RevolutionistH
From their earthly abiding before him;
For his country he fought and he bled,
And the soil of his country is o’er him—
The soil which so firmly he press’d
In the hour when the enemy found him,
With buckler and shield at his breast,
And the valiant in armour around him.
Shall be read in the annals of glory;
For ages will hallow his fame,
And the minstrel proclaim it in story.
His children’s descendants shall tell
Of his battles and dangers, and proudly
The pæan of honour shall swell,
And the shout of his triumph ring loudly.
With his smoke-enwreathed pennon high waving,
Unheeding the toil, and the flood
Of dark gore which his footsteps was laving.
Unappeased, unappall’d, unoppress’d
In the ranks of the free and the glorious
He trod, till he hail’d with the rest
The starr’d banner of Freedom victorious.
In the moment when dangers surround them,
When tumult awakes in the land,
And the league of the stranger hath found them—
Unpurchased: unbound in the toils
Of aggressors, and foes to aggression:
’Gainst the serfs of European soils,
They will cut out their way from oppression.
Where the war-blast can never assail him;
Where peril and blight cannot come,
Or the warrior’s bearing avail him.
He sleeps, and perennial bloom
Shall be his of whom fate hath bereft us:
We honour the warrior’s plume,
And we weep that the soldier hath left us.
From their earthly abiding, before him:
For his country he fought and he bled,
And the soil of his country is o’er him—
The soil which he dauntlessly press’d
In the hour when the enemy found him,
With buckler and shield at his breast,
And the valiant in armour around him.