TO THE DAVIS GUARDS
Lt. W. P. Cunningham

Soldiers! raise your banner proudly,
Let it pierce our Texas sky-
Hurrah! it was shouted loudly-
"We will do it or we'll die!"

Thus spoke the heroic DOWLING !
To his Irish, gallant band;
"Let us send the foes a howling,
From our lovely Texas land!

Nobly answered those brave men all,
To his soul-stirring appeal;
"Aye, we'll drive them away or fall;
We'll fight them with lead and steel."

The Irishmen desert never
The people that treat them well;
Their friends they love forever;
Their foes may "go to ----!"

"Steady, steady, keep cool, my boys,
Now they are near- ready- fire!"
Thus their noble chieftain cries,
And they fire, and never tire.

Hear the heavy, thundering sound,
The men of war they cry;
The dull earth itself resounds,
As the foemen fight and die.

But hurrah! the white flag's flying-
See, they spare the fallen foe!
They attend the wounded- dying-
The brave will have it so.

O, DAVIS GUARDS ! ye men of war,
You've made a glorious name!
Thus always guard our TEXAS STAR,
And preserve, for aye, your fame.

And when, around the social glass,
In years to come, you meet,
O ne'er forget the SABINE PASS !
But its mem'ries fondly greet.

Composed in the 1860s. From Francis D. Allan, 1874, "Allan's Lone Star Ballads, A Collection of Southern Patriotic Songs Made During Confederate Times, p. 115. Burt Franklin, New York. Reprint 1970.