William Henry Burleigh


Presidential Campaign, 1860

Up again for the conflict! Our banner fling out,
And rally around it with song and with shout!
Stout of heart, firm of hand, should the gallant boys be,
Who bear to the battle the Flag of the Free!
Like our fathers, when Liberty called to the strife,
They should pledge to her cause fortune, honor, and life!
And follow wherever she beckons them on,
Till Freedom results in a victory won!

They came from the hillside, they came from the glen-
From the streets thronged with traffic and surging with men,
From loom and from ledger, from workshop and farm,
The fearless of heart, and the mighty of arm.
As the mountain-born torrents exultingly leap
When their ice-fetters melt, to the breast of the deep;
As the winds of the prairie, the waves of the sea,
They are coming- are coming- the Sons of the Free!

Our Leader is one who, with conquerless will,
Has climbed from the base to the brow of the hill;
Undaunted in peril, unwavering in strife,
He has fought a good fight in the Battle of Life,
And we trust as one who- come woe or come weal,
Is as firm as the rock and as true as the steel.
Right loyal and brave, with no stain on his breast,
Then, hurrah, boys, for honest 'Old Abe of the West!'
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