[Ho! for the rescue!]
Ho! for the rescue! ye who part
Parents from children—heart from heart—
Up! "patriarchs"—and gather round,
Ye who sell infants by the pound!
The land of chivalry and chains,
Whose priests have sanctified pollution,
Pours in her ruffians from her plains,
And Houston still with them, maintains
Our "patriarchal institution!"
Shout for the onset! till the North,
Startled, shall quit her little knavery,
And pour her choicest scoundrels forth
To fight for Texas lands and — slavery!
Shout for our homes and household altars,
Where justice comes not with her halters!
Where proudly walk our ranks among,
The forger and the " great unhung!"
Where Houston, chief of San Jacinto,
Arrayed in Presidential dignity,
Reckless, remorseless, plunges into
Crimes which “Old Nick" would scarce begin to,
With all his lust and dire malignity!
These be thy Gods, oh Texas!—these !—
Tried heroes, dipped in lust and blood—
From justice sturdy refugees,
And outcasts from the wise and good!
Then fling abroad our glorious star,
And gather for victorious war—
Led on by such, our arms shall be
Bulwarks and walls for slavery!
Ho! Texians![sic] for the battle cry-
"Alamo! vengeance to the foeman!"
Fling out your banner to the sky,
Maintain—or in the struggle die;
The glorious right of — flogging woman.
- Title
- [Ho! for the rescue!]
- First Line
- Ho! for the rescue! ye who part
- Creator
-
William Henry Burleigh
- Bibliographic Citation
- Ames, Julius Rubens,(Supposed Author), and Benjamin Lundy., editors. The Anti-Texass! Legion. Albany, Sold at the Patriot office, 1844. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. This is an unpaginated document; the poem appears around what would be p. 55.
- Link to Library of Congress copy of this pamphlet
- Date
- 1837
- Period
- Early
- Comments
- Precise date given in text for first publication of poem is August 25, 1837.
- It is likely, but not yet demonstrable from evidence, that this was published in the Pittsburgh, PA newspaper William Burleigh was editing in August 1837, The Christian Witness.
- This republication takes place during the Mexican-American War, against which Burleigh would also take a critical stance in the pages of The Charter Oak.
- Strong and specific anti-slavery poem.
- Rating
- ★★★★


