Posted on 06/28/2008 4:40:54 AM PDT by PeaRidge
Second Carolina’s Colors
A poem of Colonel Moultrie, Francis Marion, Sergeant William Jasper, the Second South Carolina Regiment, and the Colors that led them into battle.
Then a chance shot hit the flagstaff, and the flag began to fall;
William Jasper saw it, and to Francis Marion called,
“I’ll get them, Captain; cover me,” he shouted o’er the battle sound;
“Second Carolina’s Colors must not lie upon the ground.”
He climbed upon the parapet and scrambled down its length;
Then lifted up the flagpole using all his strength;
And tied the colors to a sponge staff and lifted them up high;
And Second Carolina’s Colors, waved proudly ‘gainst the sky.
He tipped his hat in mock salute, as he turned to face the ships;
“Hip, Hip, Huzzah,” thrice repeated, roared from Jasper’s lips;
Then he dropped down behind the ramparts, to fire a round or two;
As o’er the fort, for all to see, Second Carolina’s Colors flew.
The British ships came sailing by, firing broadsides stem to stern,
But each was receiving fire, from Sullivan’s Island in return;
And when the Brits had turned to run, and sail for friendlier seas,
Second Carolina’s Colors still flew defiantly in the breeze.
A hundred battles later, and a hundred miles away;
Marion and his men were near Savannah, come to save the day;
General Lincoln gave the briefing; attack Spring Hill Redoubt;
Five columns in assault; Second Carolina’s Colors leading out.
Now Marion didn’t like it; He could see a trap was laid;
But he’d obey his orders, though a price in blood be paid;
And his men would follow Marion, wherever he would lead,
And tales of Second Carolina’s Colors could never match the deed.
Spring Hill was thrice defended, because their plan had been betrayed;
Still, this was Second Carolina and the sacrifice was made;
They broke the British line, with a fearsome battle shout,
And planted Second Carolina’s Colors on Spring Hill Redoubt.
Just when it seemed they had the vict’ry; Brit defenses they did quell;
Came Maitland’s Seventy-first Highlanders, sounding pipes from hell;
Fresh British reinforcements, attacking men half dead;
Second Carolina’s Colors stood in puddles, of blood already shed.
The attack was truly hopeless, and Marion had to call retreat;
His men were dead and dying but would ne’er admit defeat
“You save the men; I’ll get the Colors.” Jasper’s final words and final hope;
But Second Carolina’s Colors were made Holy, by blood spilt on Spring Hill’s slope.
Like a body in a casket, is not the person that we knew;
So the cloth in Britain’s trophy room, is not the flag we flew;
And as Jasper’s spirit soared to heaven, for he’d earned the martyr’s fate;
He bore Second Carolina’s Colors to fly o’er the Pearly Gates.
Most American school children have not heard stirring stories of the battles of Concord Bridge and Lexington Green because their communazi public school teacher's agenda does not permit it. Whether these "minor skirmishes" are really minor is a matter of debate. In the very least, they helped convince English Citizens that they could stand up to the Empire forces.
The History Channel was once a favorite stop for me on many an evening. Talk about mush now.
I'd say it's not a matter of debate at all---Lexington and Concord were hardly "minor skirmishes" to be resigned to the dustbin of history, except for that they were the first. At Lexington and Concord, the British suffered over 250 casualties. Had not Pickering delayed in coming down from Salem, and had not Percy been able to re-enforce the stragglers with cannon, it is entirely possible that not a single member of the British expeditionary force would have returned from that little jaunt into the countryside with his ghost fully encased in his body.
As it was, the British barely escaped back to the island of Boston. They were pent up there by the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut militias for months, and after they failed miserably in their attempt to break out to the north (Breed's Hill), the British were rendered 100% impotent in New England.
"Minor" skirmishes were things like the Powderhouse Alarm or the Salem/Marblehead Alarm. Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill were major engagements that convinced the British that it was futile to fight in New England.
Be grateful there WAS anything remotely realistic about the RevWar in a major motion picture.
At least all the soldiers (regulars) weren’t wearing those silly white wigs.
Agreed, but also probably because of the “Civil War”. The victor writes the history, and in this case they’d want to play down what their “enemy” ever did in the earlier civil war.
Never thought of that...you make an excellent point. The demonization of the South by the North took many forms.
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