18

The Army's Welcome Home.

BY CAPT. G. W. PATTEN.

They march with banners spread!!
In serried ranks they come
On foreign soil theyv'e fought and bled —
They've followed where their eagles led —
Welcome the army home!

Full on their anxious sight
Opens their native shore,
Now throbs each bosom with delight,
Whose pulse late quickened in the fight,
Stirr'd by the cannon's roar

These are the men who stood
By Cerro Gordo's hold,
Unflinching 'mid the fiery flood,
When o'er the plain in tides of blood
The stream of carnage roll'd.

Yon is the flag that rose
O'er Montezuma's wall!
E're yet had come the conflicts close —
While fiercely 'round a thousand foes —
Sounded the battle call.

Yonder the baldries fly
Of Palto Alto's field,
Tatter'd and stained with human dye —
The type of one whose banner-cry
Went forth, "I never yield."

These columns held by night
Buena Vista's plain!
Confiding in their leader's might,
These are the ranks, amid the fight
Bleeding, that charged again.

Weary and worn are they,
And bow'd their brows with care!
Brows that uplook'd for many a day
Thro' all the conflicts' stern array,
White yet "our flag was there."

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The flag once more is spread —
Behold! its champions come!
Cheers! for the noble hearts that bled —
Cheers! for the gallant men who led —
Welcome the army home!