48 - A Grave near Petersberg, Virginia
A Grave near Petersberg, Virginia.
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Head-board and foot-board duly placed—
Grassed in the mound between;
Daniel Drouth is the slumberer's name—
Long may his grave be green!
Quick was his way—a flash and a blow,
Full of his fire was he—
A fire of hell—'tis burnt out now—
Green may his grave long be!
May his grave be green, though he
Was a rebel of iron mould;
Many a true heart—true to the Cause,
Through the blaze of his wrath lies cold.
May his grave be green—still green
While happy years shall run;
May none come nigh to disinter
The—Buried Gun.
[Melville's] Note s, page 153.
Shortly prior to the evacuation of Petersburg, the enemy, with a view to ultimate repossession, interred some of his heavy guns in the same field with his dead, and with every circumstance calculated to deceive. Subsequently the negroes exposed the stratagem.