SCRoots, SUMTER by James W. Simmons

SUMTER
by James W. Simmons

When Carolina's hope grew pale,
  Before the British lion's tread,
And freedom's sigh, in every gale,
  Was heard above her martyred dead,—

When from her mountain heights, subdued,
  In pride of place forbad to soar,
Her eagle banner, quenched in blood,
  Lay sullen on th' indignant shore,—

Breathing revenge! invoking doom,
  Tyrant! upon thy purple host;
When all stood wrapt in steadfast gloom,
  And silence brooded o'er her coast,—

Stealthy, as when from thicket dun,
  The Indian springs upon his bow,
Uprose, South-Mount, thy warrior-son,
  And headlong darted on the foe!

Not in the pride of war he came,
  With bugle note and banner high,
And nodding plume, and steel of flame,
  Red battle's gorgeous blazonry!

With followers few, but undismayed,
  Each change and chance of fate withstood,
Beneath her sunshine and her shade
  The same heroic brotherhood!

From secret nook, in other land,
  Emerging fleet along the pine,
Prone down he rush'd before his band,
  Like eagle, on the British line!

Catawba's waters smiled again,
  To see her Sumter's soul in arms;
And, issuing from each glade and glen,
  Rekindled by war's fierce alarms,

Thronged hundreds thro' the solitude
  Of the wild forest, to the call
Of him whose spirit, unsubdued,
  Fresh impulse gave to each, to all!

By day the burning sands they ply,
  Night sees them in the fell ravine;
Familiar to each follower's eye,
  The tangled brake, the hall of green.

Roused by their tread from covert deep,
  Springs the gaunt wolf, and flies—while near
Is heard, forbidding thought of sleep,
  The rattling serpent's sound of fear.

Before, or break of early morn,
  Or fox looks out from copse or close,
Before the hunter winds his horn,
  Sumter's already on his foes!

He beat them back! beneath the flame
  Of valor quailing, or the shock;
And carved at length a hero's name
  Upon the glorious Hanging Rock!

And time that shades or sears the wreath
  Where glory binds the soldier's brow,
Kept bright her Sumter's fame in death,
  His hour of proudest triumph—now.

And ne'er shall tyrant tread the shore
  Where Sumter bled, nor bled in vain;
A thousand hearts shall break before
  They wear th' oppressor's bonds again.

Oh! never can thy sons forget
  The mighty lessons taught by thee;
Since,—treasured up the eternal debt,—
  Their watchword is—thy memory!

James Wright Simmons (ca. 1790-1858) and William Gilmore Simms together started the "Southern Literary Gazette" in 1828. Simmons published in Europe and America. He was a poet, dramatist, essayist, and reviewer. Simmons attended Harvard, traveled widely in Europe, and worked for the New York "Mirror" and the New York "Courier" before moving to Texas. He became comptroller general of the Republic and worked on the "Banner" in Galveston.

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