Philip Freneau’s elegy mourns American soldiers killed in a 1781 South Carolina battle under General Greene. The speaker stands at the battlefield and addresses the springs themselves, asking them to weep for the dead. The mood is sorrowful yet proud: these men saw their country suffering—burning towns, ravaged fields—and rushed to fight, leaving their shields behind in fierce, selfless courage. Though Greene’s tactics forced the British to retreat, the enemy kept killing even as they fled, so the victory came at a bloody cost. Freneau then speaks directly to any future traveler who might cross this ground, urging a sigh for the fallen “shepherds” and a humble tribute at their graves. The final image offers comfort—the patriots now rest in a distant, brighter land—yet a quiet warning runs through the poem: a fair morning never guarantees a clear evening, and even the stranger who pauses here may one day need a tear.
To the Memory of the Brave Americans — Summary
Under General Greene, in South Carolina, who fell in the action of September 8, 1781
AT Eutaw Springs the valiant died; Their limbs with dust are covered o'er-- Weep on, ye springs, your tearful tide; How many heroes are no more!
If in this wreck or ruin, they Can yet be thought to claim a tear, O smite your gentle breast, and say The friends of freedom slumber here!
Thou, who shalt trace this bloody plain, If goodness rules thy generous breast, Sigh for the wasted rural reign; Sign for the shepherds, sunk to rest!
Stranger, their humble graves adorn; You too may fall, and ask a tear; 'Tis not the beauty of the morn That proves the evening shall be clear.--
They saw their injured country's woe; The flaming town, the wasted field; Then rushed to meet the insulting foe; They took the spear--but left the shield.
Led by thy conquering genius, Greene, The Britons they compelled to fly; None distant viewed the fatal plain, None grieved, in such a cause to die--
But, like the Parthian, famed of old, Who, flying, still their arrows threw, These routed Britons, full as bold, Retreated, and retreating slew.
Now rest in peace, our patriot band, Though far from nature's limits thrown, We trust they find a happier land, A brighter sunshine of their own.