Unfold a space to hail the promised sun,
And catch their splendors from his rising throne;
Thus glow’d the opposing fronts, whose steely glare
Glanced o’er the shuddering interval of war.
From Albion’s left the cannonade began
And pour’d thick thunders on Hesperia’s van,
Forced in her dexter guards, that skirmisht wide
To prove what powers the forest hills might hide;
They break, fall back, with measured quickstep tread,
Form close, and flank the solid squares they led.
Now roll, with kindling haste, the long stark lines,
From wing to wing the sounding battle joins;
Batteries and field-parks and platoons of fire,
In mingled shocks their roaring blasts expire.
Each front approaching fast, with equal pace,
Devours undaunted their dividing space;
Till, dark beneath the smoke, the meeting ranks
Slope their strong bayonets, with short firm shanks
Protruded from their tubes; each bristling van,
Steel fronting steel, and man encountering man,
In dreadful silence tread. As, wrapt from sight,
The nightly ambush moves to secret fight;
So rush the raging files and sightless close
In plunging thrust with fierce conflicting foes.
They reach, they strike, they stagger o’er the slain,
Deal doubtful blows or closing clench their man,
Intwine their twisting limbs, the gun forgo,
Wrench off the bayonet and dirk the foe;
Then struggling back reseize the musket bare,
Club the broad breech and headlong whirl to war
Ranks crush on ranks, with equal slaughter gored,
Warm dripping streams from every lifted sword
Stain the thin carnaged corps; who still maintain,
With mutual shocks, the vengeance of the plain.
At last where Williams fought and Campbell fell,
Unwonted strokes the British line repel.
The rout begins; the shattered wings afar
Roll back in haste and scatter from the war;
They drop their arms, they scour the marshy field,
Whole squadrons fall and faint battalions yield.
The great observer, fixt in his midsky,
View’d the whole combat, saw them fall and fly:
He markt where Greene with every onset drove,
Saw death and victory with his presence move,
Beneath his arm saw Marion, Sumter, Gaine,
Pickens and Sumner shake the astonisht plain;
He saw young Washington, the child of fame,
Preserve in fight the honors of his name.
Lee, Jackson, Hampton, Pinckney, matcht in might,
Roll’d on the storm and hurried fast the flight:
While numerous chiefs, that equal trophies raise,
Wrought, not unseen, the deeds of deathless praise.
As Europe now the newborn states beheld
The shock sustain of many a hard fought field;
Swift o’er the main, with high-spread sails advance
Our brave auxiliars from the coast of France.
On the tall decks their curious chiefs explore,
With optic tube, our camp-encumber’d shore;
And, as the lessening wave behind them flies,
Wide scenes of conflict open on their eyes.
Rochambeau foremost with his gleamy brand
Points to each field and singles every band,
Sees Washington the power of nations guide
And longs to toil and conquer by his side.
Two brother chiefs, Viominil the name,
Brothers in birth but twins in generous fame,
Behold with steadfast eye the plains disclose,
Uncase their arms and claim the promised foes.
Biron, beneath his sail, in armor bright,
Frown’d o’er the wave impatient for the fight;
A fiery steed beside the hero stood,
And his blue blade waved forward o’er the crowd.
With eager haste descending on the coast,
Through the glad states they march their veteran host,
From sea-nursed Newport file o’er western roads,
Pitch many a camp and bridge a hundred floods,
Pass the full towns, where joyful crowds admire
Their foreign speech, gay mien and gilt attire,
Applaud their generous deeds, the zeal that draws
Their swords untried in freedom’s doubtful cause.
Through Hartford plains, on Litchfield hills they gleam,
Wave their white flags o’er Hudson’s loaded stream,
Band after band with Delaware’s current pour,
Shade Schuylkill’s wave and Elk’s indented shore,
Join their new friends where allied banners lead,
Demand the foe and bid the war proceed.
Again Columbus turn’d his anxious eye
Where Britain’s banner waved along the sky;
And, graced with spoils of many fields of blood,
Cornwallis boastful on a bulwark stood.
Where York and Gloster’s rocky towers bestride
Their parent stream, Virginia’s midmost tide,
He camp’d his hundred nations to regain
Their force, exhausted in the long campaign;
Paused for a moment on a scene so vast,
To plan the future and review the past.
Through vanquisht provinces and towns in flame
He mark’d his recent monuments of fame,
His checker’d marches, long and various toils
And camp well stored with wide collected spoils.
High glittering to the sun his hands unfold
A map new drafted on a sheet of gold;
There in delusive haste his burin graved
A country conquer’d and a race enslaved.
Its middle realm, by fairer figures known
And rich with fruits, lay bounded for his own;
Deep through the centre spreads a branching bay,
Full sails ascend and golden rivers stray;
Bright palaces arise relieved in gold,
And gates and streets the crossing lines unfold.
James furrows o’er the plate with turgid tide,
Young Richmond roughens on his masted side;
Reviving Norfolk from her ashes springs,
A golden phoenix on refulgent wings;
Potomac’s yellow waves reluctant spread
And Vernon rears his rich and radiant head.
’Tis here the chief his pointed graver stays,
The bank to burnish with a purer blaze,
Gives all his art, on this bright hill to trace
His future seat and glory of his race;
Deems his long line of lords the realm shall own,
The kings predestined to Columbia’s throne.
But while his mind thus quafft its airy food,
And gazing thousands round the rampart stood,
Whom future ease and golden dreams employ,
The songs of triumph and the feast of joy;
Sudden great Washington arose in view,
And allied flags his stately steps pursue;
Gaul’s veteran host and young Hesperia’s pride
Bend the long march concentring at his side,
Stream over Chesapeake, like sheets of flame,
And drive tempestuous to the field of fame.
Far on the wild expanse, where ocean lies
And scorns all confines but incumbent skies,
Scorns to retain the imprinted paths of men,
To guide their wanderings or direct their ken;
Where warring vagrants, raging as they go,
Ask of the stars their way to find the foe,
Columbus saw two hovering fleets advance,
And rival ensigns o’er their pinions dance.
Graves, on the north, with Albion’s flag unfurl’d,
Waves proud defiance to the naval world;
Degrasse, from southern isles, conducts his train
And shades with Gallic sheets the moving main.
Now Morn, unconscious of the coming fray
That soon shall storm the crystal cope of day,
Glows o’er the heavens and with her orient breeze
Fans her fair face and curls the summer seas.
The swelling sails, as far as eye can sweep,
Look through the skies and awe the shadowy deep,
Lead
