Forward Let the People Go

This poem was written by Ellen Murray, a co-founder of the Penn School on St. Helena Island in South Carolina. The poem was originally published in the Newport Mercury on May 23, 1863.

By Ellen Murray

Speak unto the people, saying

In the name of God Most High,

In the name of Israel’s monarch,

Ruler of the earth and sky;

Let your words be life and power,

Let your lips be swift to speak,

Let the dumb awake to utterance,

Let high courage flush the weak,

Pass from hand to hand the message,

Pass from lip to lip the word,

Till the silenced of the midnight

With the prophet tones are stirred,

Till the sunshine of the daytime

Hear it, greet it evermore;

Speak ye to the people loudly,

Say ye to them, o’er and o’er,

“Forward let the people go,

O'er the land and through the sea,

Neither doubt no lingering know,

Forward, onward, fearlessly.”

Speak unto the people saying -

“Ye have now a glorious height,

Ye have welcomed death and battle,

Rather than desert the right; -

Though your footsteps now are treading

On the Red Sea’s very edge,

Though your feet seem almost sinking,

In its troubled crimson edge,

Go ye forward! And the waters,

Making way for liberty,

Shall arise in mighty bulwarks,

Shielding and defense to be,

Better far than Egypt’s quiet,

Better in this night of strife

For your children to remember,

Through your nation’s future life;

Forward! Onward! Many a son,

Looking back shall bless the day,

When his father followed on,

Where God’s justice led the way.”

Speak unto the army, saying -

“Forward let your columns go;

Send your steel clad sunboats southward,

With the Mississippi’s flow;

On Virginia’s field of battle,

Go to conquer or to die;

Over Charleston’s blackened towers,

Lift your blood washed banner high;

Lift your banner, bear it onward,

God hath blessed it and the slave;

Lift it in his name who reigneth,

And though off a broken wave

Relieth back in foam and thunder,

From rebellion’s rocks of pride,

Steadily and swiftly o’er them

Riseth Freedom’s holy tidem

Forward let your columns move,

As your leader’s high command,

With the freeman’s flag above,

Over freedom’s plighted land.”

Speak unto the people, saying -

“By the word of prophecy,

By the word that faileth never,

Ruling every destiny,

Go ye forward, in your struggle,

For your brother’s human right,

Forward in your love for others,

Ever on from height to height.

And as strong ye go and stronger

In your holy sacrifice,

Shall ye over grow the greater,

In all true prosperities,

Till the crowns of peace and plenty

On your happy land shall rest,

And earth’s nation’s shall acknowledge,

Lo! The land that God hath blest,

Forward! Though the sea oppose;

Forward! In the holy fight’

Forward! Through the host of foes;

Forward! Ever for the Right.

Where this belongs

• Reconstruction Era National Historical Park

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