Mark E. Brotherton

THE 26th NORTH CAROLINA AT GETTYSBURG

And in the morning they rose
Dew on earth
Fog on sky
They looked across the fields and noted that death awaited them
Still they rose

They cooked by the fires in thought
Loved ones and commitment drove them into this field
A field where no one normal would wander or journey
Commanders led them and now the bugle calls

They take up arms and walk
Walk to their death
To their death, the Tar Heels, to their death

Author’s Note: One Out Of Every Four Civil War Southern Casualties Was From North Carolina. Legend has it that Robert E. Lee was quoted at Appomattox Court House as saying, “We would have won if everyone would have stuck to it like those tar heels boys of North Carolina”