EXCELSIOR BATTLE-SONG by [Hosmer, William H.C.] - 1862

[Rochester, NY?, 1862. Broadside, 8-1/4" x 10-5/8", printed in three columns. Old folds, several expert repairs on blank verso, several pinholes at fold junctions affecting several letters. Good+.

A rare Civil War broadside, celebrating the bravery of New York's Excelsior Brigade and its Captain Henry O'Rielly. The Song was "suggested by events at the Battle of Williamsburg, the first battle of the Army of the Potomac on the march from Yorktown to Richmond." It eulogizes Captain Henry Brooks O'Rielly. "The Captain fell in rallying his soldiers for another onset against the rebels, after having been for some hours in the thickest of the battle-- the losses in the Excelsior Brigade, in which he was a commander, being almost unequaled in the history of warfare." O'Rielly's "dying words are our watch-words-- 'Forward!- Forward!'"
In addition to the Battle-Song, a "Dirge for the Brave," from the Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser, is printed, by William Hosmer, also eulogizing O'Rielly.
Not in Bartlett or Sabin. OCLC 32224398 [3- NYHS, MA Hist. Soc., Brown] as of May 2019. Anderson Galleries auction 1912, from the Library of Benson Lossing.