History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY 99
Near Father Dixon's cabin home
Where Ogee's ferry crossed,
Where wild gulls soar to heaven's dome,
Where waters whiten into foam
By boulders grey and mossed
Ay, lift the noble shaft on high
To earth and river, wood and sky.
From Sangamon brave Lincoln came
In early Illinois,
He saw the settler's roof in Hame,
The tomahawk, the scalping shame
The rethnan's savage joy.
His comrades then in bravery
The sires and sons of loyal Lee.
O lovely Lee, at Franklin Grove,
The sylvan woodlands by,
The wild deer there no longer rove,
The birch canoe no more in cove,
The creeks and waters nigh,
There wood doves call in twilight gloam.
There white gulls soai' to heaven's dome.
Ay, lift the noble shaft! In tears
Recall the loved at home.
The wife of all the widowed years,
The soldiers' orphans. In their cheers
Is sob at twilight gloam.
Their sacrifice no meagre part.
The aching hunger of the heart.
My uncle fell at Perryville
That dark October day.
"First sergeant missing" (war news ill)
"Missing" his mother whispered still
When old and bent and gray.
Unknown. In Nameless Graves. Ah me!
The sires and sons of loyal Lee.
Ay, lift the noble shaft to fame.
Revere the soldier dead
Call muster, speak each honored name.
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