William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
The Battle of BridgewaterO
The weary soldier watch’d the bow
Fast fading from the cloud below
The dashing of Niagara.
Ah! little thought he of the fight—
The horrors of the dreamless night,
That posted on so rapidly.
The drum and trumpet sound alarm
And bid each warrior nerve his arm
For boldest deeds of chivalry.
Like meteor in the evening sky,
Proclaims the haughty foemen nigh
To try the strife of rivalry.
Her gallant band around it crowd,
And swear to guard or make their shroud
The starred flag of liberty.
And let the scornful Briton know,
Well strung the arm and firm the blow
Of him who strikes for liberty.”
Shrill through the ranks the bullet sings,
And onward fierce each foeman springs
To meet his peer in gallantry.
The work of death is but begun,
And red through twilight’s shadows dun
Blazes the vollied musketry.
And louder than Niagara’s roar
Along the line is heard, encore,
“On, on to death or victory.”
High arching shoots the rocket’s bow,
And lights the mingled scene below
Of carnage, death, and misery.
The horrid battle-fray is done,
Nor longer beats the furious drum,
To death, to death or victory.
The watchman steals among the dead,
To guard his comrade’s lowly bed,
Till morning give him sepulture.
The midnight moon with bloody horn
Sheds her last beam on him, forlorn,
Who fell in fight so gloriously.
Ere she behold such fray again,
Such dismal night, such heaps of slain,
Foe mix’d with foe promiscuously.