Original National Anthem.
by David B. Sickles.
Dear land of our birth, by our fathers adored,Devoted to thee is each patriot heart;
Though blasted and scourged by cannon and sword,
Thy spirit of Freedom shall never depart.
We'll love thee the more the greater thy woes,
Assured that the Right shall triumphantly reign;
The Nation that conquered its earliest foes
Can never be governed by tyrants again.
The cause that was won by the blood of our sires--
The glorious emblem of Freedom they gave--
With holiest ardor each Freeman inspires,
From the hills of the North to the home of the slave.
Undaunted by death, unmoved by defeat,
The patriot ranks return to the field,
Prepared for the foes that in battle they meet--
To bleed and to die, but never to yield.
In the God who espouses the cause of the Just,
And reigns in all lands with omnipotent power,
The Nation will ever confidingly trust,
And seek for his aid in its perilous hour.
When God by his might shall all fetters unbind,
And the claims of the free shall be rightly esteemed,
The flag that we honor, unfurled to the wind,
Forever shall float o'er the Nation redeemed.
