| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | April 15 | | The Réveille | | By Francis Bret Harte (1836–1902) |
| | | | The call for 75,000 volunteers, April 15, 1861. |
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HARK! I hear the tramp of thousands, | |
| And of armèd men the hum; | |
| Lo! a nation’s hosts have gathered | |
| Round the quick alarming drum— | |
| Saying, “Come, | 5 |
| Freemen, come! | |
| Ere your heritage be wasted,” said the quick alarming drum. | |
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| “Let me of my heart take counsel: | |
| War is not of life the sum; | |
| Who shall stay and reap the harvest | 10 |
| When the autumn days shall come?” | |
| But the drum | |
| Echoed, “Come! | |
| Death shall reap the braver harvest,” said the solemn-sounding drum. | |
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| “But when won the coming battle, | 15 |
| What of profit springs therefrom? | |
| What if conquest, subjugation, | |
| Even greater ills become?” | |
| But the drum | |
| Answered, “Come! | 20 |
| You must do the sum to prove it,” said the Yankee-answering drum. | |
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| “What if, ’mid the cannon’s thunder, | |
| Whistling shot and bursting bomb, | |
| When my brothers fall around me, | |
| Should my heart grow cold and numb?” | 25 |
| But the drum | |
| Answered, “Come! | |
| Better there in death united than in life a recreant—come!” | |
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| Thus they answered—hoping, fearing, | |
| Some in faith, and doubting some, | 30 |
| Till a triumph-voice proclaiming, | |
| Said, “My chosen people, come!” | |
| Then the drum, | |
| Lo! was dumb; | |
| For the great heart of the nation, throbbing, answered, “Lord, we come!” | 35 | | |
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