MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT #1:

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DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
Original poem lauding the positive qualities of an officer favored by the enlisted men. The poem also details many annoying practices of officers that the men disliked.

The poem was probably written by Harold Chapman.

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FULL TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS POEM:

1 page, typescript

OUR LIEUTENANT PALMER.

Written by a Private in D. Co. 101st U.S. Engrs.


There’s Lieutenants by the hundreds, and Lieutenants by the score,
Who have “come across” to lead us common guys.
There are many who have riches, and many who are poor.
There are some that’s clever, and there’s some that’s wise.
There are some that use the language of the ordinary men.
There are many who still use that “highbrow” stuff.
There are some who blow a whistle, when they want us to “fall in,”
And who never know just when we’ve got enough.
Yet of the many hundreds, there is one who we like best,
For its not to him, if you’re a “sport” or “farmer.”
His name? You surely know it. It ain’t common like the rest.
O yes! You said it, Its Lieutenant Palmer.
He don’t strut out by his lonesome to sport his silver bars,
Or don’t go around to stop a game of crap.
And he don’t stick around a smoking his U.S.A. Cigars,
While we are drawing out our lungs, on old “Sweet Cap.”
He don’t tell us to quit cussing if things ain’t going right,
Or don’t blame us if our work is going slow.
He ain’t afraid to say “Good morning” or “Good night,”
When the rest won’t give us just the plain “Hello.”
There’s one thing best of all we like, about this little man,
And which, with us, give him an awful pull,
Its that he stops to talk with us, most every time he can,
And, unlike all the rest, don’t shoot the “bull.”

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