Dear to a land is the name of its heroes,
They who have given their lives for her honor,
Who in the danger and turmoil of battle
Have fought and have died for the land of their fathers.
What is more worthy of lasting remembrance
Than the deeds of our heroes, whose patriot spirit
This day we are praising? Let memory undying
Hold green in our minds the tale of their glory.
Tall be the monument raised to their mem’ry,
Let it be wreathed with the flowers of vict’ry;
Firm be it built as a symbol forever
Of Canada’s glory in years that have vanished.
For here where ye tread with your footsteps so eager,
Where rises the pillar so proud to the heavens,
Lay strewn with the dead who had died for their country.
Treble their number the foes that assailed them.
Rank over rank poured the enemy’s forces
Shot after shot belched forth from the cannon,
Thinning their numbers and strewing the meadow
With wounded and dying, whose groanings of anguish
And prayers for relief rose sad on the night air,
And mixed with the roar, dull-murmuring, distant,
Where Niagara rolls on her billows of water.
Up sweep the foemen with musket and sabre,
Shrouded in smoke from the mouths of the cannon;
Loud ring the echoing sounds of the conflict,
Back roll the masses and the still on the hill-top
Stand our brave soldiers and over them waving
The flag of their country, their symbol of glory.
Faint shone the moon from the depths of the night sky,
Flinging pale beams o’er the scene of the battle;
Deep the reports of the guns from the forest
Rose on the air, and the rattling muskets,
Sounding like hail on the dry leaves of autumn,
Mingling their echoes, that faint and still fainter
Died in the murmur of down-falling waters,
So all the night raged to the battle unceasing,
So all the night fought the men of our country
For children and home and fair Canada’s honor;
Till at length in confusion the foemen re-treated,
Drew back in defeat and left us the victory.
Few were the men that remained of the forces,
Of those who first stood and defied the invaders;
Weary but dauntless the few that remained,
But still flew the flag o’er the battle-strewn meadow.
Then praise, O ye people, here gathered together,
This patriot act and the names of the heroes.
Long years have passes since the foemen were vanquish’d,
Summers have come and have vanished in distance.
We who now dwell in our peace-blessed Dominion
Owe all our praise to the men who have saved it.
Raise ye monument, crown it with flowers,
Swell yet the shout, let the meadows re-echo
In praise of those men who with patriot spirit
Confronted and vanquished the foes that assailed them;
Winning for Canada glory and freedom,
Winning for self but the death of a soldier.
Then with the gratefulness memory awakens,
Raise ye this pillar and sing ye their praises,
They who undaunted have given their heart’s blood,
And died for their country, her honor and glory.
Deseronto, Ontario
Source: The Tribune, August 2, 1895
The Monument was created by the Canadian Parliament and unveiled by the Lundy’s Lane Historical Society on July 25th, 1895 and marks a mass grave with the remains of 22 British Soldiers.