- description
- # LATER AND LAST.
## Overview
"LATER AND LAST." is a segment of poetry, extracted from the collection "[Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9)". It was extracted from the file "[battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt](arke:01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8)" and is part of the larger "[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)" collection. The segment spans lines 948 to 1004 of the source text.
## Context
This poem is situated within "[Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9)", a collection of poems by Herman Melville that reflects on the American Civil War. The segment follows the poem titled "[3 P.M.](arke:01KG8AJM1NNNK11CMVQBKK3KWR)" and precedes the poem "[The Cumberland.](arke:01KG8AJM1RE8J5MBJ641ZAB6SX)".
## Contents
"LATER AND LAST." describes the immediate aftermath of a Union victory, likely at the Battle of Donelson, as suggested by the text referencing "Grant strikes the war’s first sounding stroke / At Donelson." The poem captures the jubilation of the townspeople upon hearing the news of victory, with celebrations and revelry. However, it also contrasts this with the somber reality faced by those receiving news of casualties, depicting the "death-list like a river flows / Down the pale sheet." The poem concludes with a prayer for the end of the war and a wish for the destruction of its instruments and fortifications.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:23.653Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- LATER AND LAST.
- end_line
- 1004
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 948
- text
- LATER AND LAST.
THE FORT IS OURS.
_A flag came out at early morn
Bringing surrender. From their towers
Floats out the banner late their scorn.
In Dover, hut and house are full
Of rebels dead or dying.
The national flag is flying
From the crammed court-house pinnacle.
Great boat-loads of our wounded go
To-day to Nashville. The sleet-winds blow;
But all is right: the fight is won,
The winter-fight for Donelson.
Hurrah!
The spell of old defeat is broke,
The Habit of victory begun;
Grant strikes the war’s first sounding stroke
At Donelson.
For lists of killed and wounded, see
The morrow’s dispatch: to-day ’tis victory._
The man who read this to the crowd
Shouted as the end he gained;
And though the unflagging tempest rained,
They answered him aloud.
And hand grasped hand, and glances met
In happy triumph; eyes grew wet.
O, to the punches brewed that night
Went little water. Windows bright
Beamed rosy on the sleet without,
And from the deep street came the frequent shout;
While some in prayer, as these in glee,
Blessed heaven for the winter-victory.
But others were who wakeful laid
In midnight beds, and early rose,
And, feverish in the foggy snows,
Snatched the damp paper--wife and maid.
The death-list like a river flows
Down the pale sheet,
And there the whelming waters meet.
Ah God! may Time with happy haste
Bring wail and triumph to a waste,
And war be done;
The battle flag-staff fall athwart
The curs’d ravine, and wither; naught
Be left of trench or gun;
The bastion, let it ebb away,
Washed with the river bed; and Day
In vain seek Donelson.
- title
- LATER AND LAST.