Produced by Robert Prince, David Starner, Juliet Sutherland
Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
An attempt has been made in the present collection to gathertogether the patriotic poems of America, those which depictfeelings as well as those which describe actions, since theselatter are as indicative of the temper of the time. It is acollection, for the most part, of old favorites, for Americans havebeen quick to take to heart a stirring telling of a daring andnoble deed; but these may be found to have gained freshness by agrouping in order. The arrangement is chronological so far as itmight be, that the history of America as told by her poets shouldbe set forth. Here and there occur breaks in the story, chieflybecause there are fit incidents for song which no poet has fitlysung as yet.
The poems have been printed scrupulously from the best accessibletext, and they have not been tinkered in any way, though some fewhave been curtailed slightly for the sake of space. In a few cases,where the whole poem has not fallen within the scope of thisvolume, only a fragment is here given. When this has been done, itis pointed out. Brief notes have been prefixed to many of thepoems, making plain the occasion of their origin, and removing anychance obscurity of allusion.
NEW YORK, November, 1882.
In the two score years since this collection was prepared manythings have happened, and many poets have been in-spired tocelebrate men and moods and deeds. It has been found necessary toomit a few of the less important verses in the earlier edition tomake room for the most significant of the lyric commemorations ofevents almost contemporary, and therefore appealing to us moreimmediately, and perhaps more poignantly.
July 4, 1922.
BOSTON, Ralph Waldo Emerson
PAUL REVERE'S RIDE, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, Sidney Lanier
HYMN, Ralph Waldo Emerson
TICONDEROGA, V. B. Wilson
GRANDMOTHER'S STORY OF BUNKER HILL BATTLE, Oliver Wendell Holmes
WARREN'S ADDRESS, John Pierpont
THE OLD CONTINENTALS, Guy Humphrey McMaster
NATHAN HALE, Francis Miles Finch
THE LITTLE BLACK-EYED REBEL, Will Carleton
MOLLY MAGUIRE AT MONMOUTH, William Collins
SONG OF MARION'S MEN, William Cullen Bryant
TO THE MEMORY OF THE AMERICANS WHO FELL AT EUTAW, Philip Freneau
GEORGE WASHINGTON, James Russell Lowell
PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE, James Gates Percival
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER, Francis Scott Key
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, Thomas Dunn English
THE AMERICAN FLAG, Joseph Rodman Drake
OLD IRONSIDES, Oliver Wendell Holmes
MONTEREY, Charles Fenno Hoff man
THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD, Theodore O'Hara
HOW OLD BROWN TOOK HARPER'S FERRY, Edmund Clarence Stedman
APOCALYPSE, Richard Realf
THE PICKET GUARD, E