H. H. Stevens

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How dear to the heart of each gray-headed soldier

Are the thoughts of the days when all wore the gray!

While memory recalls every trial and danger,

And scenes of the past live in battle array.

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Though long since discarding our arms and equipments

There’s one thing a veteran most surely will note:

The first thing he sees on the form of a comrade

Is the little bronze cross he wears on his coat.

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“How much did it cost,” said a man to a soldier,

“The little flat cross you wear on your coat?”

“A fortune in money,” he answered the stranger,

“And four years of marching and fighting to boot.”

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The wealth of the world cannot purchase this emblem,

Except the buyer wore the gray too;

For it shows to mankind the marks of a hero –

A man who to honor and country was true.

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Then let us be proud of this emblem of honor,

And wear it with spirit both loyal and bold;

Fraternally welcome each one who supports it,

With love in our hearts for the comrade of old.

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Each day musters out whole battalions of wearers,

And soon will be missed this token so dear;

But ages to come will remember with honor

The man who’d the right this bronze emblem to wear.

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From: Confederate Veteran Magazine, Vol. XVI, No. 11, November 1908, Page 585