{"id":"01KG8AJM22RCYWH5C6F3F6SK93","cid":"bafkreif4wobfufkaaq2kbnbqlgyqk5crcx6z22ilehnsuocfhajnz35rza","type":"segment","properties":{"description":"# The Battle for the Mississipppi.\n## Overview\nThis is a segment of the poetry collection [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9), extracted from the file [battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt](arke:01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8). It consists of lines 1253-1367 of the source text. The segment contains two poems, \"The Battle for the Mississipppi\" and \"Malvern Hill,\" both related to Civil War battles. It was manually extracted as part of structure extraction.\n\n## Context\nThis segment is part of a larger collection, [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW). It appears in sequence after the poem \"[Shiloh.\\nA Requiem.](arke:01KG8AJM22K2YD5FYJ75WYJHP8)\" and before \"[The Victor of Antietam.](arke:01KG8AJM22738NTDE8TVA26N9B)\".\n\n## Contents\nThe segment contains two poems:\n1.  \"The Battle for the Mississipppi\" - This poem commemorates the Union naval victory at the Battle of New Orleans in April 1862. It describes the naval battle, highlighting the actions of the ships Varuna and Manassas, and the subsequent occupation of the city by Farragut. The poem concludes with a reflection on the cost of victory and the need for prayer and remembrance.\n2.  \"Malvern Hill\" - This poem reflects on the Battle of Malvern Hill (July 1862) during the Peninsula Campaign. It recalls McClellan's troops at bay and the heavy losses suffered. The poem uses the imagery of the elms on Malvern Hill to represent memory and the cyclical nature of life, even amidst the carnage of war.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.930Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"The Battle for the Mississipppi.","end_line":1367,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"The Battle for the Mississipppi.","source_file":"01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8","start_line":1253,"text":"The Battle for the Mississipppi.\r\n(April, 1862.)\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen Israel camped by Migdol hoar,\r\n  Down at her feet her shawm she threw,\r\nBut Moses sung and timbrels rung\r\n  For Pharaoh’s standed crew.\r\nSo God appears in apt events--\r\n  The Lord is a man of war!\r\nSo the strong wind to the muse is given\r\n      In victory’s roar.\r\n\r\nDeep be the ode that hymns the fleet--\r\n  The fight by night--the fray\r\nWhich bore our Flag against the powerful stream,\r\n  And led it up to day.\r\nDully through din of larger strife\r\n  Shall bay that warring gun;\r\nBut none the less to us who live\r\n  It peals--an echoing one.\r\n\r\nThe shock of ships, the jar of walls,\r\n  The rush through thick and thin--\r\nThe flaring fire-rafts, glare and gloom--\r\n  Eddies, and shells that spin--\r\nThe boom-chain burst, the hulks dislodged,\r\n  The jam of gun-boats driven,\r\nOr fired, or sunk--made up a war\r\n  Like Michael’s waged with leven.\r\n\r\nThe manned Varuna stemmed and quelled\r\n  The odds which hard beset;\r\nThe oaken flag-ship, half ablaze,\r\n  Passed on and thundered yet;\r\nWhile foundering, gloomed in grimy flame,\r\n  The Ram Manassas--hark the yell!--\r\nPlunged, and was gone; in joy or fright,\r\n  The River gave a startled swell.\r\n\r\nThey fought through lurid dark till dawn;\r\n  The war-smoke rolled away\r\nWith clouds of night, and showed the fleet\r\n  In scarred yet firm array,\r\nAbove the forts, above the drift\r\n  Of wrecks which strife had made;\r\nAnd Farragut sailed up to the town\r\n  And anchored--sheathed the blade.\r\n\r\nThe moody broadsides, brooding deep,\r\n  Hold the lewd mob at bay,\r\nWhile o’er the armed decks’ solemn aisles\r\n  The meek church-pennons play;\r\nBy shotted guns the sailors stand,\r\n  With foreheads bound or bare;\r\nThe captains and the conquering crews\r\n  Humble their pride in prayer.\r\n\r\nThey pray; and after victory, prayer\r\n  Is meet for men who mourn their slain;\r\nThe living shall unmoor and sail,\r\n  But Death’s dark anchor secret deeps detain.\r\nYet glory slants her shaft of rays\r\n  Far through the undisturbed abyss;\r\nThere must be other, nobler worlds for them\r\n  Who nobly yield their lives in this.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMalvern Hill.\r\n(July, 1862.)\r\n\r\n\r\nYe elms that wave on Malvern Hill\r\n  In prime of morn and May,\r\nRecall ye how McClellan’s men\r\n    Here stood at bay?\r\nWhile deep within yon forest dim\r\n  Our rigid comrades lay--\r\nSome with the cartridge in their mouth,\r\nOthers with fixed arms lifted South--\r\n      Invoking so\r\nThe cypress glades? Ah wilds of woe!\r\n\r\nThe spires of Richmond, late beheld\r\n  Through rifts in musket-haze,\r\nWere closed from view in clouds of dust\r\n    On leaf-walled ways,\r\nWhere streamed our wagons in caravan;\r\n  And the Seven Nights and Days\r\nOf march and fast, retreat and fight,\r\nPinched our grimed faces to ghastly plight--\r\n      Does the elm wood\r\nRecall the haggard beards of blood?\r\n\r\nThe battle-smoked flag, with stars eclipsed,\r\n  We followed (it never fell!)--\r\nIn silence husbanded our strength--\r\n    Received their yell;\r\nTill on this slope we patient turned\r\n  With cannon ordered well;\r\nReverse we proved was not defeat;\r\nBut ah, the sod what thousands meet!--\r\n      Does Malvern Wood\r\nBethink itself, and muse and brood?\r\n\r\n          _We elms of Malvern Hill\r\n            Remember every thing;\r\n          But sap the twig will fill:\r\n          Wag the world how it will,\r\n            Leaves must be green in Spring._\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"The Battle for the Mississipppi."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9","peer_type":"poetry_collection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJM22K2YD5FYJ75WYJHP8","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJM22738NTDE8TVA26N9B","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:37.538Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.206Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}