The Happy Warrior

Who is the happy Warrior?

That every man in arms should wish to be?

—It is the generous spirit, who,...

Come when it will, is equal to the need...

Who, with a toward or untoward lot,

Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not—

Plays, in the many games of life, that one

Where what he most doth value must be won:

Whom neither shape of danger can dismay,

Nor thought of tender happiness betray.

—William Wordsworth

“The rain poured down all the time so we had a very pleasant time of it. When we arrived there we were told to make ourselves comfortable as possible for the night, so picking out a soft board on the floor I laid down in my wet clothes and was soon asleep.””

— Charles Brother, New York Draft Riots, 13 July 1863