Cold Harbor
On the night before the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864, many of the Federal soldiers wrote their names on slips of paper they pinned to their backs so their families could be informed of their deaths. One made a last diary entry, the line which is reproduced here.
The hour my blood is to be spilled I know. I therefore write it in: June 3. Cold Harbor. I was killed.
Upon our backs our lives are billed, Our names and numbers on a pin, The hour our blood is to be spilled.
As though toward this ending willed, I carve my tombstone for my kin: June 3. Cold Harbor. I was killed.
For this dawn dying we were drilled, A battle no known God can win Nor stop the hour our blood is spilled, Which cannot ever be distilled As balm, but only re-begin: June 3. Cold Harbor. I was killed.
So all our dreams flow unfulfilled To death by this blind creek. Within The hour my blood is to be spilled. June 3. Cold Harbor. I was killed.
Kit Wright
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