You are here:   Cambria > Books > History of Cambria County, V.2
History of Cambria County, V.2

HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. 443
troops. Andrew and George enlisted with Captain Lapsley's company; Jacob A. with Captain Suter, and John with Captain Easly; James Glass went out with Captain Graham, of the 54th Regiment, of which Captain William A. McDermitt, the husband of Mary Glass, became the lieutentant-colonel; Francis Flanagan, the husband of Susan Glass, became captain in the 133d Regment, and John Shearer, the husband of Rose Glass, also went out with Captain Suter, and re-enlisted for a three year term. All of them served during the war excepting Andrew, who was disqualified by physical conditions and would not be accepted, thus Mrs. Glass gave five sons and three sons-in-law to her country's cause. When the first defenders were at the station to take their departure for the field, Mrs. Glass' only charge to her boys was to “be brave.” This loyal sentiment inspired Johnston to write the following poem known by that title:

" 'Be Brave!' the patriot mother said,
When direful war's alarms
Across Columbia's valleys spread,
And called her sons to arms.
'Be Brave!' no more heroic word
The Spartan mother gave,
When at Thermopylae was heard
The din of war—'Be Brave!'

"Go forth, ye gallant Volunteers,
Though dangers may be rife;
To fight for all that man reveres,
For 'tis your country's strive,
And Heaven propitious smiles on all
That die their land to save;
A nation mourns you, if you fall—
Then forward, and –'Be Brave!'

"And whether near your mountain home
Your serried hosts shall tread,
Or by the wild Potomac road,
Near Vernon's mighty dead;
Or where the sultry Southern sand
The sweet Santee shall lave;
At home—abroad—on sea or land.
Press forward, and –'Be Brave!'

"When mothers thus their jewels give
Upon their country's shrine,
That country cannot cease to live—
Her mission is divine.
And, Cambria, such thy matrons are
And where the coward slave
Would falter when her virtuous Fair
Bids all her sons—'Be Brave!'

    When the Cambria Guards and the Highlanders departed for Mexico he noted their going in a patriotic lyric of eight verses, sung to the air of “Dandy Jim of Caroline:”


Previous page Title Page Contents Image Next page

Created: 26 Mar 2003, Last Updated:
Copyright © 2000-2003, All Rights Reserved
Lynne Canterbury, Diann Olsen and contributors