{"id":1540,"date":"2015-06-10T22:03:55","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T22:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ualrexhibits.org\/steamboats\/?page_id=1540"},"modified":"2023-08-30T15:31:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T15:31:54","slug":"sultana-poem","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ualrexhibits.org\/steamboats\/sultana-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"Sultana Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\tThe Burning of the Sultana\n\t<\/h2>\n

\n\t\tThe Burning of the Sultana\n\t<\/h4>\n

\n\t\tBy: Wm. H. Norton, Company C, 115th Ohio\n\t<\/h5>\n\tMidnight’s dreary hour has past,
\nThe mists of night are falling fast,
\nSultana sounds her farewell blast,
\nAnd braves the might stream;
\nThe swollen river’s banks overflow,
\nThe deaden clouds are hanging low
\nAnd veil the stars bright silver glow,
\nAnd darkness reigns supreme.\nHer engine fires now brighter burn,
\nHer mammoth wheels now faster turn,
\nHer dipping paddles lightly spurn
\nThe river’s foaming crest:
\nAnd drowsy Memphis, lost to sight,
\nNow fainter shows her beacon light,
\nAs Sultana steams in the dead of night,
\nAnd the Union soldiers rest.\nThe sleeping soldiers dream of home,
\nTo them the long-sought day had come,
\nNo more in prison pens to moan,
\nOr guarded by the gray;
\nAt last the changing fates of war
\nHad swing their prison “gates ajar,”
\nAnd “laurel wreaths” from the North afar
\nAwait their crowning day.\nFor Peace has raised her magic hand,
\nThe Stars and Stripes wave o’er the land,
\nThe conquered foeman now disband,
\n“As melts the mowing dew;”
\nAnd mothers wear their wonted smile,
\nAnd aged sires the hours beguile,
\nAnd plighted love awaits the while
\nThe coming of the blue.\nOn sails the steamer through the gloom,
\nOn sleep the soldiers to their doom,
\nAnd death’s dark angel oh! so soon-
\nCalls loud the muster roll.
\nA-burst-a-crash-and-timbers fly,\nAnd-flame-and-steam-leap to the sky,
\nAnd-men awakened-but-to die-
\nCommend to God their souls.\nOut from the flame’s encircling fold,
\nLike a mighty rush of warriors, bold,
\nThey leap to the river dark and cold,
\nAnd search for the hidden shore.
\nIn the cabins, -and-pinioned-there,
\nA mid-the-smoke-and-fire-and-glare,
\nThe-awful-wail-of-death’s-despair
\nIs heard above the roar.\nOut on, the river’s rolling tide,
\nOut from the steamer’s burning side,
\nOut where the circle is growing wide,
\nThey battle with the waves.
\nAnd drowning men each other clasp,
\nAnd writhing in death’s closing grasp
\nThey struggle bravely, but at last
\nSink to watery graves.\nOh! for the star’s bright silver light
\nOh! for a moon to dispel the night!
\nOh! for the hand that should guide aright
\nThe way to the distant land!
\nClinging to driftwood and floating down,
\nCaught in the eddies and whirling around,
\nWashed to the flooded banks are found
\nThe survivors of that band.\n

Norton, William H.\u00a0 “The Burning of the Sultana.” Loss of the Sultana and Reminiscences of Survivors<\/em>. Comp.\u00a0 Chester D. Berry.\u00a0 Lansing, 1892.\u00a0 12-13.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

The Burning of the Sultana The Burning of the Sultana By: Wm. H. Norton, Company C, 115th Ohio Midnight’s dreary hour has past, The mists of night are falling fast, Sultana sounds her farewell blast, And braves the might stream;…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\t\tContinue reading “Sultana Poem”<\/span>…\t<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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