When the Civil War began Walt Whitman (1819-1892), was a
journalist with a modest reputation as a poet.
He covered the war for The
Brooklyn Eagle and later served as a nurse.
Said to be one of only three men who never despaired of the Union cause
– the others being Lincoln and Grant – Whitman penned numerous poems on war
themes.
His "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" is a fine word
picture of a commonplace incident of war.
A
line in long array where they wind betwixt green islands,
They
take a serpentine course, their arms flash in the sun
-- hark to the musical clank,
Behold
the silvery river, in it the splashing horses
loitering stop to
drink,
Behold
the brown-faced men, each group, each person a
picture,
the negligent rest on the saddles,
Some
emerge on the opposite bank, others are just entering
the ford -- while
Scarlet
and blue and snowy white,
The
guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind.
