A Nameless Grave

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

　　    "A soldier of the Union mustered out,"        Is the inscription on an unknown grave        At Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave,        Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout    Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout        Of battle, when the loud artillery drave        Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave        And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt.    Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea        In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame        I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn,    When I remember thou hast given for me        All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name,        And I can give thee nothing in return. Featured in our collection of Poetry for Students and Civil War Stories