The Sword of Bunker Hill

Words by William Ross Wallace. Music by Bernard Covert

Date: circa 1855

 

He lay upon his dying bed;

His eyes were growing dim,

When with a feeble voice he called

His weeping son to him:

“Weep not, my boy!” the vet’ran said,

“I bow to Heaven’s high will  —

But quickly from yon antlers bring

The Sword of Bunker Hill;

But quickly from yon antlers bring

The Sword of Bunker Hill.”

 

The sword was brought, the Soldier’s eye

Lit with a sudden flame;

And as he grasped the ancient blade,

He murmured Warren’s name:

Then said, “My boy, I leave you gold —

But what is richer still,

I leave you, mark me, mark me now —

The Sword of Bunker Hill;

I leave you, mark me, mark me now —

The Sword of Bunker Hill.

 

‘Twas on that dread immortal day,

I dared the Briton’s band,

A Captain raised this blade on me —

I tore it from his hand:

And while the glorious battle raged,

It lightened freedom’s will–

For, boy, the God of freedom blessed

The Sword of Bunker Hill;

For, boy, the God of freedom blessed

The Sword of Bunker Hill.”

 

“O, keep the Sword!” — his accents broke —

A smile — and he was dead —

But his wrinkled hand still grasped the blade

Upon that dying bed.

The son remains; the sword remains —

Its glory growing still —

And twenty millions bless the sire,

And Sword of Bunker Hill;

And twenty millions bless the sire,

And Sword of Bunker Hill.

Source: Butler, C. The Silver Bell: A New Singing Book for Schools, Academies, Select Classes, and the Social Circle, Containing a Choice Selection of the Most Favorite Songs… J. H. Whittemore publisher, 1864, pp. 150-151. This is the earliest published version I could find easily, though I believe the composition dates to the 1850s. The words and music appear in many late 19^th century collections of patriotic songs.

A Mr. Charlie Zahm has posted on YouTube a nice performance of this song.

Commentary: In recalling the Revolutionary War, the Sword of Bunker Hill captures the expansionistic and jingoistic sentiments of its time. Joseph Warren is mentioned only tangentially, his aspirational vision for America as a land of liberty not at all. The sword takes center stage in this remembrance of the Revolution.

The sword of the song is fictional and presented as such. The real sword of Bunker Hill, purported to be held by Joseph Warren at the instant of his battlefield death, was a popular attraction at the 1875 Centennial exhibit at Old South Meeting House in Boston. This same relic sword is now conserved at the Massachusetts Historical Society. It is on temporary loan and rare public display through late November 2015 as part of the Boston Public Library’s “We Are One” special exhibition.

Tagged as: about Warren after 1800, Battle of Bunker Hill, relic, Sword