THE DAISY IN THE SOUTH
by Frederick A. Niles
(?-1906)

Where the troopers fed their horses, where the bummers bivouacked,
Now with each recurring summer all that highway may be tracked
By the glory of the presence -- so the stars the sky illume --
Of a million northern daisies in the beauty of their bloom.

Thus the kindly hand of nature hides the scars that war has made;
Vines have twined the grounded musket, blossoms wreathe the broken blade;
Tiny timid birds have nested safely in the cannons' mouth
Ever since Tecumseh Sherman gave the daisy to the South.

There is a story told in Georgia, 'tis in everybody's mouth,
That was old Tecumseh Sherman brought the daisy to the South;
Ne'er the little blossomed stranger in that land was known to be
'Till he marched his blue coat columns from Atlanta to the sea.

Everywhere in field and valley and the murm'ring pines among
Where a gallant Union soldier pressed his foot, a daisy sprung,
And its coming seemed to many like a promise from on high,
Given there in benediction where Old Glory floated by.

Postwar Remembrances