Camp of Israel No. 2

Written on leaving our first Encampment,

after crossing the Mississippi River.

Lo! a mighty host of Jacob

Tented on the western shore

Of the noble Mississippi,

Which they had been crossing o’er.

At the last day-dawn of winter,

Bound with frost and wrapp’d in snow;

Hark! the cry is, “Onward! onward!

Camp of Israel! rise and go.”

All at once is life and motion—

Trunks and beds and baggage fly;

Oxen yok’d, and horses harness’d,

Tents roll’d up and passing by:

Soon the carriage wheels are moving

Onward to a woodland dell,

Where at sunset all are quarter’d—

Camp of Israel! all is well.²