The Confederate Monument
The Confederate Monumdent, Raleigh, N.C.
On the Capitol grounds of the old North State
There stands a monument grand,
It was heaped up there to commemorate
The deeds of a patriot band;
A patriot band of fallen heroes,
Who fell in battle with their country’s foes.
It was reared in honor of the men who died
To save our homes from the invader’s tread;
The good, the brave, the true and tried,
Their deeds shall live, though they are dead.
While in our veins the life-blood flows,
We will cherish the memory of Carolina’s heroes.
’Tis the boon of country’s gratitude,
The gift of a nations love;
No ruthless hand, or tread of footsteps rude
Shall o’er its sacred domains move.
As long as the sunlight on its summit glows
We will never forget our Southern heroes.
In1895, in the balmy month of May,
In the presence of an eager, waiting throng,
The covering veil was drawn away,
And the people shouted loud and long.
The voice of that great multitude arose
In honor of Dixie’s dead heroes.
It was drawn away by a fair young hand,
The progeny of a noble sire,
A leader of that patriot band,
His name, with love, our hearts inspire.
A halo of glory around us it throws,
The grandest of all the fallen heroes.
Brave men and fair women came that day
From Carolina’s remotest bounds
To bless the men who died in the gray
On the reeking, gory, battle grounds
Where countless hordes of haughty foes
Were hurled against our brave heroes.
Generations to come will want to know why
This beautiful structure was made—
Why it lifts its towering head so high,
And stone upon stone was laid.
Oh! tell them, then, of their country’s heroes,
Whose deeds of valor with their dust repose.
Tell them the story of the cause that was lost
In the struggle for Southern rights;
Tell them how, a mighty valiant host
Was slain in a hundred fights.
Their own grandsires in the list of heroes
Sleep unconscious of their country’s woes.
Tell them of Pettigrew, Pender, Branch and Lane
And the Thousands of fallen braves
Who nobly died on the battle plain
And rest in unknown grave;
For such as these this monument arose
How sacred their memory! our beloved heroes.
As long as the flowers around it shall bloom,
And the years shall chase each other away,
In the southern heart there will always be room
For the soldier who died in the gray.
No nation can claim, no history knows
More illustrious types of human heroes.
Time, in its ceaseless, constant way,
As it flies through its yearly rounds,
Will bring again the sad May day
When we gather together on the burial grounds—
On the burial grounds where dead heroes
Peacefully rest in their long repose.
Here we have gathered in days that are past
To honor the memory of the veteran slain,
And as long as Southern fire shall last
We will meet again, and again
Each years as it brings the pink and the rose
Fresh garlands to wreath for our dear heroes.
When their comrades in arms have all passed away
Their memory will still live in our hearts:
Their children’s children will remember this day
And catch the inspiration its return imparts.
Fair hands will deck the graves in long rows
Where moulder the dust of unwritten heroes.