Eutaw Springs
by
Philip Freneau (1752 � 1832) |
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At Eutaw Springs the valiant died:
Their limbs with
dust are covered o'er--
Weep on, ye springs, your tearful
tide;
How many heroes are no more!
If, in this
wreck of ruin, they
Can yet be thought to claim the tear,
Oh, smite your gentle breast, and say,
The friends of
freedom slumber here!
Thou, who shalt trace this
bloody plain,
If goodness rules thy generous breast,
Sigh for the wasted rural reign;
Sigh for the shepherds,
sunk to rest!
Stranger, their humble graves adorn;
You too may fall, and ask a tear;
'Tis not the
beauty of the morn
That proves the evening shall be
clear,--
They saw their injur'd country's woe;
The
flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rush'd to meet the
insulting foe;
They took the spear--but left the shield.
Led by thy conquering genius, Greene,
The Britons
they compell'd to fly:
None distant view'd the fatal
plain,
None griev'd, in such a cause, to die,--
But, like the Parthians, fam'd of old,
Who, flying, still
their arrows threw;
These routed Britons, full as bold
Retreated, and retreating slew.
Now rest in peace,
our patriot band;
Though far from Nature's limits thrown,
We trust they find a happier land,
A brighter sunshine of
their own. |
By Philip Freneau (1752 � 1832)
Listed June 14, 2012
Note:
(September 8, 1781)
The fight of Eutaw Springs,
although called a drawn battle,
resulted in the
withdrawal of the British troops from South
Carolina. |
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