FOR FREEDOM!Response of the Colored Soldiers to the Call of the President, January, 1864.
Thank God! 'Tis the war-cry! They call us; we come;
Clear summons the bugle, bold beckons the drum;
Our "Ready!" rings clearer; our hearts bolder beat
As under the bright flag rejoicing we meet,
For still we have trusted through darkest delay,
That the flash of these guns would be dawn of our day.
Clear summons the bugle, bold beckons the drum;
Our "Ready!" rings clearer; our hearts bolder beat
As under the bright flag rejoicing we meet,
For still we have trusted through darkest delay,
That the flash of these guns would be dawn of our day.
'Tis dawning! 'tis morning! the hills are aglow!
God's angels roll backward the clouds of our woe!
One grasp of the rifle, one glimpse of the fray,
And chattel and bondman have vanished for aye;
Stern men they will find us who venture to feel
The shock of our cannon, the thrust of our steel.
God's angels roll backward the clouds of our woe!
One grasp of the rifle, one glimpse of the fray,
And chattel and bondman have vanished for aye;
Stern men they will find us who venture to feel
The shock of our cannon, the thrust of our steel.
And then, when the fierce day is done, in the gleam
Of the camp-fire at midnight, how gayly we'll dream!—
Of the camp-fire at midnight, how gayly we'll dream!—
