"A
Grant
Song" [circa 1865]
Poetry by
Eugene Batchelder
Music by
W. H. S.
[alias??? for William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907]

New York, NY: C. H. DITSON & CO., 711 Broadway
Chicago: Lyon & Healy
Cincinnati: J. Church Jr.
Boston: O. Ditson & Co.
Boston: J. C. Haynes & Co.
Phila.: C. W. A. Trumpler
[Plate no.] 21738
[Source: Civil War Digital Collection Special Edition;
civilwardigital.com]

1. Down with the traitor who rose to destroy us,
Death to his hopes, his name and his fame,
Tho’ living we feel he can no more annoy us.
His life is a compound of treason and shame.
By the hearts of the brave who perished to save us,
By the soul of that martyr for liberty dead,
We swear for each blow that your treachury gave us,
That vengence shall fall on your house and your head.

2. You live, but despised by a nation, you linger,
Hated and spurned, by the brave and the free,
While with contempt, scorns, withering finger;
Steadfast, thro centuries, points still at them;
Oh! for one hour of Washington’s glory;
Oh! for one moment of Jackson’s proud fame;
You would barter your life, but like Arnold, your story,
Will sink thee thro’ years, to a death bed of shame!

3. But oh! there are curses, still louder, and deeper,
For one who still lives, and who rules us today,—
Who has climbed like a snake, or some venomous creeper,
To the chair, where our own “peerless Lincoln,” held sway,
Has he made “Treason odious”? the reptile, has given
His hand to the men of treson and blood!
And the bright “star of Freedom,” that in glory had risen
Has been swept back, and lost in treson’s dark flood!

4. But see! through the clouds the star reapearing!—
Shall in splendor arise! to the zenith again!
For Grant shall advance!! ’mid the nation’s loud cheering
And redeem our proud banner from treason’s foul stain;
In the conflict, the souls of our heroes that perished,
By wound and starvation, by sword and by ball,
Shall in legions encamp round the leader they cherished,
And Grant! shall be victor, and rule over all!

5. With Grant! for our chieftain, the nation shall flourish,
New hope, and new light on our prospects shall dawn;
Fresh strength and fresh courage each freeman shall nourish
And Union! and Freedom both shall be born,
The North and the South with grateful emotion
Shall twine him a wreath, for true Liberty won!
And the Nation rejoicing from ocean to ocean!
Shall proclaim that with Grant all our conflicts are done!