Fredericksburg?
Where is Fredericksburg?
The bloody wound of New York's Irish.
Men,
writing their names on pieces of paper,
pinning the papers to their uniforms
with the simple hope of escaping
an unmarked grave.
The six desperate charges
"the bodies which lie in dense masses..."
before the cruel stonewall
before the world
"Never at Fontenoy, Albuera, or Waterloo...
was more undaunted courage displayed."
Than at Fredericksburg
the cruel stonewall where New York's Irish Brigade died.
The requiem at old St. Patrick's
the call for the widows to come forward and be cared for.
Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!
The Pennsylvanians chanting
and waving their green banner
the Harp and the Sunburst
over Pickett's troops
who have fallen before them
at yet another cruel stonewall.
Gettysburg.
