[168] its troubled lines the eager ears and eyes of the starved men read hope and coming freedom. another prisoner, Lieutenant Rockwell, heard the poem and under the floor of the hospital building, where a number of musical prisoners quartered themselves on mother earth, wrote the music. It was first sung by the prison glee club, led by Major Isett, where, intermingled with the strains of ‘Dixie’ and kindred airs to adapt it to audiences of Southern ladies, it was heard with applause. it May be added that Henry Clay work's marching through Georgia was sung at the Grand review in Washington on May 24, 1865, and soon became indispensable at all encampments of Grand Army veterans. But General Sherman could never abide the more popular production, always expressing his preference for the poem here reprinted.
Our camp-fires shone bright on the mountains
That frowned on the river below,
While we stood by our guns in the morning,
And eagerly watched for the foe;
When a rider came out from the darkness
That hung over mountain and tree,
And shouted: ‘Boys, up and be ready!
For Sherman will march to the sea.’
Then cheer upon cheer for bold Sherman
Went up from each valley and glen,
And the bugles re-echoed the music
That came from the lips of the men;
For we knew that the stars in our banner
More bright in their splendor would be,
And that blessings from Northland would greet us
When Sherman marched down to the sea.
Then forward, boys! forward to battle!
We marched on our perilous way,
And we stormed the wild hills of Resaca—
God bless those who fell on that day!
Then Kenesaw, dark in its glory,
Frowned down on the flag of the free,
But the East and the West bore our standards
And Sherman marched on to the sea.
