KANSAS COLLECTION BOOKS
Kansas: Its Interior and Exterior Life by Sara Robinson




APPENDIX.

CHARGE OF
THE BORDER-RUFFIAN BRIGADE.




From the New York Evening Post.

"OUR forces amounted to eight hundred strong. * * * When we first reached Lawrence not a human being could be seen. In about an hour there gathered, in the streets, in front of the hotel, some hundred and fifty men. * * * When they agreed to surrender, our men were marched down in front of the town, and one cannon planted on their own battlements. Cannon were brought in front of the house, and directed their destructive blows upon the walls; the building caught on fire, and soon its walls came with a crash to the ground. Thus fell the abolition fortress!" -- Lecompton (border ruffian) Union, the editor of which was one of the gallant eight hundred.

            I.
        Half a league, half a league,
          Half a league onward,
        All to the fated town,
          Rode the Eight Hundred.
        "Charge!" was the captain's cry;
        No foeman's bayonet nigh,
        No gun to make reply --
        "Charge!" was the gallant cry,
        And into the fated town
          Rode the Eight Hundred!

            II.
        No cannon to right of them,
        No cannon to left of them,
        No cannon in front of them,
          Volleyed and thundered!
        Stormed at by shot nor shell,
        Boldly they rode and well,
        Cowed by no fear of death,
        Cowed by no fear of hell,
          Rode the Eight Hundred!

            III.
        Flashed all their sabres bare,
        Flashed all their guns in air,
        The gallant Southrons there
        Charging like fury, while
          All the world wondered
        Seeing no battery smoke,
        Their southern courage woke,
        Then rapid was their stroke,
        And through the lines they broke,
          And Lawrence plundered;
        Then the ruffians scampered back,
          All the Eight Hundred!

            IV.
        No cannon to right of them,
        No cannon to left of them,
        No cannon behind them
          Volleyed and thundered!
        Stormed at by shot nor shell,
        They, that had robbed so well
        Ran, their exploits to tell,
        Back to their dens again,
        Back to their border-hell,
        The whole black horde of them,
          All the Eight Hundred!

            V.
        Honor the brave and bold!
        Long shall the tale be told,
        Yea, when our babes are old,
          How bravely they plundered!

              PENNYSON.


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