*PLANTING THE FLAG AT ANDERSONVILLE By Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer. We Lift up the banner of freedom today, And let the world know that due honor we pay To Liberty's martyrs, who starved for the right, And crown them as heroes, who fell in the fight. Their chalice of woe was filled up to the brim; They drank to the dregs with high courage and vim, Nor faltered, nor wavered, but loyal and true Stood firm by their colors, the red, white and bluel The earth was their pillow, theircovering the sky; And thousands lay down on the bare ground to die; No artist can paint, no pen tell the story Of all they endured for love of "Old Glory". The Lord, in compassion, took note of heir greif ANd came, in His Majesty, to their relief; He rode on the wind, where swift lightning played, And hallowed the ground where the prisoners laid. They panted with thirst, ere the Presence passed by, But flashes of glory lit up the sky; A thunder bolt fell, with omnipotent ring, **And opened the fountain of Providence Spring. And Peace came at last, Oh! for thousands too late; We mourn, as a people, their pitiful fate, And hold the ground sacred, our care and our pride. And plant the Flag over the place where theu died. But the Nation is saved! They died not in vain; Our people are all re-united again, From ocean to ocean - the lakes to the sea - One country, one people, one flag for the free. * At Andersonville the Stars and Stripes float every day from a pole one hundred and sixteen feet high. ** Providence Spring broke out after a thunderstorm in August, 1864. Andersonville and the graveyard is now taken care of by the Women's Relief Corps, and is now enclosed by a high wire fence. Over Providence Spring ther has been built a Granite Pavilion, inside of which there has been erected by the Ex-prisoner's of War Association, a marble fountain from which the water flows strong and sweet with a never ceasing stream into a marble basin. It is said to be the best water in all Georgia.