Up for the Conflict

Up, again for the conflict! our banner fling out,
And rally around it with song and with shout,
Stout of heart, firm of hand, should the gallant boys be,
Who bear to the battle the flag of the free!
Like our fathers, when Liberty called to the strife,
They should pledge to her cause, honor, fortune, and life!
And follow wherever she beckons them on
Till Freedom exults in a victory won!
               Then fling out the banner, the old starry banner,
               The battle-torn banner that beckons us on!

They come from the hill-side they come from the glen—
From the streets thronged with traffic, and surging with men;
From loom and from ledger, from worship and farm,
The fearless of heart, and the mighty of arm.
As the mountain-born torrents exultingly leap,
When their ice-fetters melt, to the breast of the deep,
As the winds of the prairie, the waves of the sea,
They are coming—are coming—the Sons of the Free!
               Then fling out the banner, the old starry banner,
               The war-tattered banner, the flag of the Free!

Our Leader is one who, with conquerless will,
Has climbed from the base to the brow of the hill;
Undaunted in peril, unswerving in strife,
He has fought a good fight in the Battle of Life;
Ad we trust him as one who, come woe or come weal,
Is as firm as the rock and as true as the steel,
Right royal and brave, with no stain on his crest,
Then, hurrah, boys, for honest “Old Abe of the West!”
               And fling out your banner, the old starry banner,
               The signal of triumph for “Abe of the West!”

The West, whose broad acres, from lake shore to sea,
Now wait for the harvests of homes of the free!
Shall the dark tide of Slavery roll o’er the sod
That Freedom makes bloom like the garden of God?
The bread of our children be torn from their mouth,
To feed the fierce dragon that preys on the South?
No, never! The trust which our Washington laid
On us, for the future, shall ne’er be betrayed!
               Then fling out the banner, the old starry banner,
               And on to the conflict with hearts undismayed!