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Poem Focuses on Civil War Battle at Winchester, Virginia

The 28th Iowa fought in the “Bloody Angle” at the Battle of Opequon (also known as the Third Battle of Winchester) and lost nearly 100 in killed and wounded. Company G, to which the writer belonged, lost 13 men – five being killed on the field, one mortally wounded, five severely wounded and two slightly wounded – and this out of a total of 33 who were in the engagement. The battle, east of Winchester, Virginia, was fought September 19, 1864. Excerpts from “Old Glory At Opequon” follow.

Old Glory at Opequon

In Dixie’s land our Hawkeye band then dared

The hosts of “Southern chivalry;”

Good men and true, and brave ones too, there bared

Their arms for death or victory,

And sternly fought and nobly wrought

On the storm-swept field of Opequon,

Where Early’s hosts rushed madly on

To where we rallied in the wood

Around Old Glory there.

This too we claim, that never shame our record

Bold and fair and clean shall mar;

Ever we’ll strive to keep alive the spirit

That prevailed in days of yore,

When comrades fell mid shout and yell

On sod red-stained with crimson gore,

Where furious raged the fiery fray

On that eventful autumn day,

When thick as leaves our comrades lay

Around Old Glory there.

Ruby Zabel
Daykin, Nebraska


Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then CAPPER’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.