Nor ease nor sloth her strength despoil: 
    Her peaceful farmers till,
  With patient thrift, th’ outlying soil,
  Her trained mechanics deftly toil,
    Her merchants ply their skill;

  Her ponderous engineries supply
    A thousand waiting needs;
  Her wheels revolve, her shuttles fly,—­
  And ever where the prize hangs high,
    Her foot, unfaltering, leads.

  Her sympathies are large and sweet: 
    And when, at Freedom’s call,
  The war flags waved, the war drums beat,
  She sprang, responsive, to her feet,
    And freely offered all!

  Alert in War, she emulates
    The Arts of Peace, as well: 
  Religion, Order, guard her gates;
  Wealth, Culture, Thrift, like happy Fates,
    Her destinies foretell.

  So, through the round of years, she keeps
    Advancing on her Past: 
  Her old-time vigor never sleeps,—­
  And even as she sows she reaps. 
    God bless her to the last!

* * * * *

MAJOR GENERAL LEW WALLACE AT SHILOH.

GENERAL U.S.  GRANT’S VINDICATION OF GENERAL WALLACE.—­THE WALLACE AND
GRANT LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

BY GENERAL HENRY B. CARRINGTON.

[Author of “Battles of the American Revolution.”]

It seems common to all great wars that the true version of leading actions is rarely assured by the immediate reports of commanders.  Many causes secure to such reports substantial accuracy, but the development of details seldom fails to show that justice to subordinates cannot be done by the simple statement of general plans and general results.  There are historians who still claim that Arnold had no part in the battle of Freeman’s Farm, September 19, 1777; and many other battles of the Revolutionary war lacked clear definition until nearly a century had passed and the records were supplemented by careful examination of the battle-fields and a more thorough scrutiny of British, French, and Hessian archives, thereby to correct topographical data and harmonize conflicting statements.

The case of General Fitz John Porter forcibly illustrates the difficulty of changing public opinion, once formed, even when supplemental data enforce military recognition of their value.  The Battle of Franklin, which secured to General Thomas the opportunity to fortify Nashville and ultimately defeat Hood, and the battles of Stone River, Gettysburg, Chicamauga and Monocacy, are among the actions of the late war in which differences of statement as to positions and movements have greatly qualified first estimates of the relations which various officers sustained to those actions.