Lyrics / Chamberlain's Inspiring Speech
The sav’ry scent of scorching meat
It crawls up through my nose
The babble of the campers near
That all around me flows
Like water ‘round me flows
I’m traipsing through a clearing broad
With trees to left and right
The searing sun shines straight and strong
Not nearly close to night
It’s bright and far from night
I trudge past all the stately chaps
Who stand at both my sides
And though we all are Union lads
How feeble are my strides
How weak and sad my strides
For as they’re fighting fit and fair
A mutineer am I
Unwilling to join the battle here
I do not want to die
Please God don’t let me die
The Captain bellows “Fight or be shot!”
I refuse to lend a hand
Don’t want to whisk my life away
On disputes of rights and land
Don’t care about the land
These were my thoughts until I saw
The Colonel wearing blue
‘Twas Chamberlain I saw that day
His word was always true
I knew he must be true
But I’d heard much about this man
Professor who came from Maine
He turned age thirty-four that year
He was said to have a brain
How sharp and bright his brain
He stood tall and picturesque
With boyish dignity
A three-foot sword hung at his side
He had no enmity
No trace of enmity
He gave a speech to us mutineers
Good man from Maine was he
“We are an army going out
To set other men free.
To let the men be free.”
“No laws to say that you must bow,
No King or royalty,
“We’re fighting for each other now,
We fight for you and me.
With that you must agree.”
He mentioned all the Negros bound
For freedom if we won
My gaze sank slowly to the ground
My help would count as none
As help I would be none
But I could fight and I could help
Release the men enslaved
My life could be a stepping-stone
For those that could be saved
Some people could be saved
“And you can have your rifles back
If you will help us fight,”
And as these words were uttered strong
My goal was quite as bright
My goal was clear and bright
As tears welled up within my eyes
I could not look away
Within my heart, to my surprise,
I knew I’d join the fray
Until my dying day
So Chamberlain convinced us all
To support the Union side
One hundred and fourteen mutineers
We fought with strength and pride
We won with strength and pride
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November 13, 2005
Deleted User
I really enjoyed reading this. It was written well, and I like how you incoporated history into it.
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i remember reading about this occasion in michael shaara’s book “the killer angels”, and i think this work does well in illustrating the change of heart each one of those men must have experienced. one of the few things i can suggest is at the end of the second to last stanza, the rhyming couplet is a bit awkward without the usual repeating of the last word. all in all though, an impressive piece.
This is a wonderful piece of writing. Very clear and easy to read. I enjoyed it very much.
Wow, you are very talented, especially for being so young. The lyrics have a very smooth flow to them. Good use of rhyme and repetition, particulary in the last two lines of each stanza. Keep up the good work.
BRAVO! BRAVO! Where can I sign up? You’ve moved me deeply. The imagery. The music – virtual of course, but there none the less, I felt his pride, his shame, his enlightened concern, and his courage to join and move on- even though his first thought was to save his own life. This is exactly the premise behind all of us who chose to become veterans. Me included- 9 years. And I cried when I was told that I was chosen mysteriously with 30,000 others identified for the government cutbacks of 1992. I had fully enjoyed every day of my service both to God and Country. Was even selected among the very few- <1% of the military populace- to become a full fledged instructor at a privy USAF academy of schools. But that I found out too late. I had just signed my exit papers 2 months earlier.:-~
Thanks for the reminder.;-)
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