Original 1846 West Point Cadet Poem Titled "Erie" by Quincy Adams Gillmore

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Original 1846 West Point Cadet Poem Titled "Erie" by Quincy Adams Gillmore :
$4500.00

This piece is AMAZING! This is a one in a lifetime chance to own an original piece of historical memorbillia. This is a hand written poem in fountain ink on paper with a SEAL stamp, by Civil War General, Quincy Adams Gillmore, Dated 1846....When he was a cadet at West Point!!!!!!!! This beautiful poem is titled "Erie". The poem is written on 1 piece of threaded paper that has been folded. There are two vertical folds to the paper. It measures approximately 8 7/8" x 9 11/16". I am unable to make out every word but I'm going to do my best. One side of the paper reads: West Point Sept. 9th 1846 Quincy Adams Gillmore Cadet 4th Section 4 ????????? Exercise on "Erie". Here is the poem, the best I can make out anyway: "Erie" Night lowest her sable curtain. O'er the west the silvery twilight casts a "tinge of eve", And on the Eastern waters faintly throws its lurid glare. No sound is echoed save the ?laintive moarings of the turtle dove. to woo her absent lover to her breast, the timid rabbit from its kennel speeds, And O'er the neighboring woodland hunts its food. Grown weary of her daily carolled song, The lark retrieves into its downy nest. 'Mong human kind, the guilty ????? seeks His stinted couch, and dreams of glittering gold. Hail to the stillness (?)! To these shadowy scenes of nature, hail! And as the soul flows out in warmest ?????, ????? O may the heart in solemn meditation wisdom learn ****** Thy waters, Erie, flow in silence by: And while the innopptuned ????! beauties of the face, soul surveys th' unsided(?) (a few words on this line I can not make out). It swells with reverence and unofferden awe. What countless ???? a sunes 'neath the deep green waves By mortal tongue unnumbered, lie concealed (?) who can the riches of thy mighty deep quite comprehend? Who stay thy Potency That he may contemplate thee as thou art? August, and grand, and noble, and divine. Natures sublimest work beheld in thee. Hath but one face; matchless in symmetry. In grandeur unsurpassed. On thy wide breast Outspread for all, the trademan's busy barge Luden with costly drugs and lux??? ???? lo glut the pampered appetites of men, Persues its trackless path and dreams secure But when the uplifted winds in hurried gusts Urge thy reluctant waves, with di???ful noise Sound rumbling to the shore; or yet arrest 'The tardy bank outside thy intended port. And hurt it with its boasting builder, man in common ruin; or doth clothe in weeds The proud "Queen" leity of the lakes, by thy High swollen waters, man due reservence pays, And humbly lays his pride and boastings by. To their omniscient architect an End Doth an improtant lesson teach to man; 'That lesson. Oh how plain. The Let me here Under this stately oak whos wide spread to Shoots to the clouds, and hath defied the blasts of centuries; beneath whose leafy shade Perchance by moonlight might, with fond embrace, The Indian hero woo'd his dusky mate; Or, closely ambushed by its giant trunk Repelled with fatal dant th' intruding for; In such romantick spot with heart contrite Let me with faith indite my simple verse. Oh! when the heart is full, when plenteous woods flow up for attendence and find no ????? lis then, in the deep chambers of the soul. When all is compassed with profoundest thought, Mans spirit feels; and to th' Eternals throne with consious guilt, high adoration pays. Hear, Erie, now, my "latest" parting voice. When all thy boasted strength shall be laid low, And when the heavens with liquid fire shall drink Thy waters up, and leave the beauty graceless, Oh! may the soul of him who sings thee now. Embalmed in living green, up to the realms Of the eternal day, take uncurbed wing. QA Gillmore_______________________ Pretty Awesome!!!! There is also a newspaper clipping adhered to the back of the poem which reads: An inncident: A woman from Indiana, hearing that her son, her only son, a noble youth, was wounded in one of the battles before Richmond, hastened to seek him. She obtained passes, but searched in vain for him through all the hospitals in the peinsula. Her evdeavors elsewhere were all equally fruitless. Having looked through our own hospitals to no purpose, alone in a strange city, friendless, almost heartbroken with motherly anxiety and grief, she hears, while in one of the wards, that a new boat load of wounded was in the harbor. ------An uncontrolable conviction posseses her that her son is among them. She becomes almost distracted with imapatience to fly to him; and would not wait until the next day, when the wounded were to be landed. One of our noble up-town ladies, who devote themselves to the sick and wounded, happened to be present and could not resist her distress, she finally persuaded an officer to procure a boat, and once go with the mother to the steamer. The very first wounded man looked upon was her own son. He sprang to her with exclamation, "Oh mother, I knew you would come." It was to her terrible shock for she saw that the seal of death was on him. He was mortally wounded through the lungs, and died that night in his mothers arms. The lady who had interested herself in her, anxious to know her fate, yet hearing nothing, sought the ship on the next day and found the mother alone with her dead boy, almost beside herself with grief. The wounded had been taken off the ship, the officers and crew had gone on shore, and there was nobody to care for the bereaved woman whom no one knew. This heartless desertion is a lasting shame to the vessel, whose name we do not care to disclose. The lady soon made arrangements for having the body decently coffined, and took the mother to her own home. The American Express Company, to their honor, on being aquainted with facts, volunteered to convey the body to Indiana free of charge, and the mother with her sacred charge left for home. Before leaving she was induced to say something respecting her family history, and , sigularly enough, it appeared that herself and her benefactor were originally from the same New England village, and their fathers had been long and well tried friends. A Consoling Sermon- In a funeral sermon preached last week in LaCrosse by a reverend gentleman who was married for the fourth time, the distressed mourners were consoled by the following touching assurances. "And my dear friends, God sends this trouble upon you for a wise purpose. There is joy - a luxury in such afflictions, as I can testify from personal experience." Please, If you have any questions I will be happy to answer any. As always any serious offers are considered.

Posted with Mobile