How proud their column moved,
Up the long slope of death with stubborn tread,
Obeying him they loved!
And still against the storm of fire that scourged
Supporting squadrons backward as it surged,
How fierce they held their way unwearièd!
Mayhap with other foes
They might have won; but ever slow to yield
And ever prompt to close
Were Hancock’s men; and the Virginian shaft
That pierced our lines was shattered, head and haft,