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Excerpt from A Sketch of the Life and Character of Gen. Taylor: The American Hero and People's Man; Together With a Concise History of the Mexican War The Song of Ringgold's Artillerists. The Mexican bandits Have crossed to our shore; Our soil has been dyed With our countrymen's gore. The murderer's triumph Was theirs for a day - Our triumph is coming - So fire - fire away! Fire away! Be steady - be ready - And firm every hand - Pour your shot like a storm On the murderous band. On their flanks, on their centre, Our batteries play - And we sweep them like chaff As we fire - fire away! Fire away! Lo! the smoke-wreaths uprising. The belching flames tear Wide gaps through the curtain, Revealing despair. Torn flutters their banner - No oriflamme gay: They are wavering - sinking - So fire - fire away! Fire away! 'Tis over - the thunders Have died on the gale - Of the wounded and vanquished. Hark! hark to the wail! Long the foreign invader Shall mourn for the day, When Ringgold was summoned To fire - fire away! Fire away! Monterey. We were not many - we who stood Before the iron sleet that day - Yet many a gallant spirit would Give half his years, if he but could Have been with us at Monterey. Now here, now there, the shot, it hailed In deadly drifts of fiery spray, Yet not a single soldier quailed When wounded comrades round them wailed Their dying shout at Monterey. And on - still on our column kept Through walls of flame its withering way: Where fell the dead, the Jiving slept, Still charging on the guns which swept The slippery streets of Monterey. The foe himself recoiled aghast, When, striking where he strongest lay. We swooped his flanking batteries past, And braving full their murderous blasts, Stormed home the towers of Monterey. Our banners on those turrets wave, And there our evening bugles play; Where orange boughs above their grave Keep green the memory of the brave, Who fought and fell at Monterey. We are not many - we who pressed Beside the brave who fell that day; But who of us has not confessed He'd rather share their warrior rest, Than not have been at Monterey? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
