I Am Your Confederate Ancestor

 

By Trooper Jim DeArman, CSA

CO. B, 37th Texas Calvary(Terrell's)

I am your Confederate ancestor.

Remember me?
When our country needed me,
I answered the call.

Do not forget me!

I was willing and did give up everything,
Sacrificed all, for country and you.
I faced deprivation, starvation,
faced the winter in tattered uniforms,
marched for miles with no shoes.

In Northern POW camps,
ill treatment was the norm,
intentionally withheld medical treatment,festering wounds,
allowed to freeze in the winter, and forced to endure sickness,
with hopes we would die.

I proudly fought under our flag,
for the constitutional republic we desired.
I rallied and faced an army that most of the time,
outnumbered us and was better equipped.

I gave my all and did my best,no sacrifice was to great.
No duty to small.

It was for you I did this,Without expecting any reward.
I suffered horrible wounds,and watched the angle of death,
cut vast lines of men down.

I bled for you,soaking the earth,I died for you.

Our families heeded the call,
they suffered under the boot of the Union army,
sacrificing farms, homes, possessions,
years of hardships we endured.

Will our self-sacrifices and heroic deeds,
be forgotten and perish from your memory?
My blood consecrated the ground of our country.
I gave my life for our people and it's land.

I died a heroic death for our independence,
on the battlefields of Shiloh, Chickamauga, Gettysburg.

Behold our bodies laid out in long lines,
the indignity of buried like garbage in mass trenches.
Our faces changed, death reflected in our eyes,
we breathe not, forevermore.

Behold, our mothers, wives, family,
heads bowed down,
silently grieving us who will never return.

Some buried forever in Yankee soil.
Our friends choked with tears.
The burden of losing us, having to bury us, to entomb us.

We did not betray you!

Our muskets still by our side,
ammo pouches empty,
We fought till the last man.

Just as our blood spilled out step by step,
We did all we could, every last man, never to rise.

Only when you forget us, do we truly die.
Only when you turn your back on us, are we truly gone.

Stand up for us!
Fight for us now!

For we carried your name, till death closed our eyes.
Do not let our sacrifice, die with us, our memory!

Raise the flag we fought for, wave it proudly from on high!

Are you ashamed of us, or to weak of heart to carry on?

The banner has been passed to you,
do not let it fall or falter,
the battle is now yours.

Remember me, I did not shirk my duty,
remember me, our bodies laid out in long lines,
But I can arise and live again,

But only through you!

Eileen Parker Zoellner