The Maine bugle ... campaign; 1-5 Jan. 1894-Oct. 1898 - Maine.gov

26 THE MAINE BUGLE.
building fortifications and mounting guns. It was an unhealthy
locality, the water was so bad to drink and the men obliged to
work in the mud until the tide drove them ofi", and then wait
near by to be ready when the tide left. On Tybee the men had
to build up places to sleep on, the ground was so damp and the
snakes so abundant and large. The regiment landed on Tybee
the first of February, 1862, and remained there until after the
capture of Fort Pulaski. The Eighth helped build the batteries
and mount the guns, and worked them during the bombardment
of the fort, which lasted all one day and part of the next
when the white flag was hoisted at four o'clock P. M. the typical
day of April 9th, 1862. A detachment of the Eighth with its
colors went over and hoisted the stars and stripes, which now
wave so proudly from every public building and from every
school house through our land. A few days after the capture
of Fort Pulaski Chaplain Philbrook came to us and was gladly
welcomed by the boys.
Cavaliers at Cedar Mountain.
The h'irst Rhode Island Cavalry held their reunion this year
on the ninth of August, the thirty-first anniversary of the battle
of Cedar Mountain (August 9th, 1862)—the first engagement
in which many of our comrades took part. A very interesting
feature of this reunion was the reading of the following poem,
written for the occasion, by Rev. Frederic Denison, A. M.,
chaplain of the regiment, entitled " Cavaliers at Cedar Moun-
tain," which the genial chaplain has kindly furnished for publication
in the BUGLE
.Again we hear the bugles blow,
And don our sabres and our spurs;
Comes back afresh the long ago
That warmly every bosom stirs.
Some heads are bald ;
all locks are gra;'
The print of one and thirty years
We bear since our hot battle-day
At Cedar Mountain, which appears