The Fremont Weekly Journal

Political Reading.
(From the New York Tribune.)
SHERIDAN.
WINCHESTER AND NEW ORLEANS.
With trumpet's cry and roll of drums,
This way the tide of battle comes;
All the vast spaces of the hills,
The thunder of the cannon fills;
Nearer it comes!
And who are these,
Like broken waves of stormy seas,
Long lines of shattered blue that meet
In rout, confusion and defeat?
Up the long road the columns fly,
And still the fierce triumphant cry
Pursues, and yon dark cloud of gray
Comes surely, swiftly on this way.
Its rolling thunder louder grows,
And these who fly our friends, and those
who chase - our foes.
Now, for that crushed and ruined host
Is victory forever lost!
Northward it flies, and Northward comes
The roll of Early's rebel drums:
Our banner in his ranks are flying,
His march is on our dead and dying;
Northward he comes, and who shall stay
His swift, resistless lines of gray?
But one stern face is Southward set;
But one man is not beaten yet;
Not yet, though all besides should fly,
Not yet, though faithless victory
Perches on rebel flags forever -
The Corps is whipped - the General never!
Lo! 'tis an army that hath fled,
And none are heroes but the dead,
When riding down the Valley far
He brought a soul into the war.
Swift came the trampling steed, more swift
The rider's spirit; as he came
His voice went forth before his sword,
And slew the fears of men with shame.
Then when he met the mighty rout,
What was his order? - "Face About!"
As flame through flame, the order ran;
Southward they faced, yea! every man
Faced South - then cheered for Sheridan!
Ah! right well Jubal Early knew
Who hurled that avalanche of blue;
He knew whose hand had turned the flight,
And struck full in the face his van;
Too well he'd felt in many a fight
The strong right arm of Sheridan.
And he who led our legions onward,
And bore their darkened banners sunward
Not less in peace than war was great;
But as he marched an army, ruled a State -
Straightforward, pausing not, nor turning,
All his great soul within him burning,
To do the right thing, and do it well.
What mattered it to him who should oppose?
He loved his country better than his place,
And those who hated her - he held his foes!
This was your crime, O Sheridan! that you,
When men had traded in their country's sin,
Maintained her honor, and enforced the right
To hold the victory you fought to win.
Defeated? Yes, but glorious such defeat.
Conquered? Aye, only when the Right is slain.
Thou art become a principle to us,
And as a principle shalt rise again;
I know that truth shall triumph. Not in vain
Men suffer in her cause; the name shall be
The rallying cry of millions who maintain
High in the stars the banner of the free.
Thy country's foes may boast they overcame
But thine the glory is - their's the eternal shame.