EC0260

This two page inked manuscript of the poem entitled ‘The Empty Sleeve’ is on unlined letter sheets and is entirely in the hand of David Barker the author, who wrote the song in the early days of the Civil War. At the end of this manuscript poem the author writes the following: ‘Transcribed by the author in great haste for Genl. Smith Feb. 20/66’ The poem reads as follows: ‘The Empty Sleeve/By the moons pale light, to this gazing throng,/Let me tell one tail, let me sing one song./Tis a tale devoid of aim or plan,/Tis a simple song of a one armed man./Till this hour I could ne’er believe,/What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve,/What a weird queer thing is an empty sleeve./It tells in a silent tone to all,/Of a country’s need and a country’s call,/ Of a kiss and a tear for a child and wife,/And a hurried march of a nations life;/Tis this very hour, would you e’er believe,/What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve,/What a weird queer thing is an empty sleeve./It tells of battlefield of gore,/Of a saber clash and a cannons roar,/Of a deadly charge, of a bugles note,/Of a gurgling sound in a foreman’s throat,/Of the whizzing grape, of the fiery shell,/Of a scene which mimics the scenes of hell;/Till this very hour, who could e’er believe,/ What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve,/What a weird queer thing is an empty sleeve./Though it points to a myriad wounds and scars,/Yet it tell of a flag, with the stripes and star,/In God’s own chosen time will take,/Each place of the rag with the rattlesnake,/And it points to a time when that flag will wave/O’er a land where there breaths no cowering slave;/To the top of the sky let us all then heave,/One proud Hurrah for the empty sleeve!/For the one armed man and the empty sleeve!’ In addition to the poem there is an inked manuscript letter from General Smith to Colonel George B. Dyer, of the 9th Maine Infantry, while he was serving as Provost Marshal in Raleigh, N.C. telling him that he was enclosing this poem from the author to him in his letter. The letter is headed ‘Augusta House Feb’y 20, 1866’, has two pages of inked text and signed ‘Very Truly Smith’. Am not sure which General Smith this is, as there were over 30 with that name in the Union Army, but further research may uncover his identity. Barker was a lawyer, poet and politician from Maine.