Memorial Day – The Bivouac of the Dead Poem

McClellan Gate, also known as the McClellan Arch, towers 30 feet and faces east with the word “McClellan” inscribed in gold. Below that is the phrase, “On fame’s eternal camping ground their silent tents are spread, and glory guards with solemn round, the bivouac of the dead.” (U.S. Army photo by Rachel Larue/released)

Memorial Day is a time to remember the men and women who gave their lives for our country and our personal freedoms.

Please read The Bivouac of the Dead; By Theodore O’Hara – a poem inscribed on McClellan Gate (the original entrance to Arlington National Cemetery)

The Bivouac of the Dead

By Theodore O’Hara

The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat

The soldier’s last tattoo;

No more on life’s parade shall meet

That brave and fallen few.

On Fame’s eternal camping-ground

Their silent tents are spread,

And Glory guards, with solemn round,

The bivouac of the dead.

No rumor of the foe’s advance

Now swells upon the wind;

No troubled thought at midnight’s dance,

Of loved ones left behind;

No vision of the tyrant’s wrath,

The night-march done,

The weary watch, the camp-fire’s path,

That e’er shall be begun.