Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0168Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of a fortress upon a hill in the background, in the foreground is a large water way with several ships traversing it. Above the image "W252 (Star)" is printed, below the image "19249 The Stars and Stripes Flying over the Ehrenbreithstein Fortress, on the Rhine, Germany." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
19249
THE STARS AND STRIPES FLYING OVER THE EHRENBREITSTEIN ON THE RHINE
Between its crag-ribbed summits
And ruined castles gray,
Between its clambering vineyards
And orchards white with May,
The rusihng Rhine roils seaward
And, hard by Coblenz town,
A flag on Ehrenbreitstein
Upon that tide looks down.
Its stripes of white and crimson
Are blzoned forth on high;
Its starry field of azure
Seems part of God's own sky;
By winds that rouched his eagles
When Caesar's legions came
The flag on Ehrenbreitstein
Is fanned to rippling flame.
What make ye of that banner
Ye folks of Coblenz town?
What think ye of the field guns
That from the ramparts frown?
And know ye all the meaning
of the blue and red and white
That waves from Ehrenbreitsein
And read ye it aright?
Saint George's cross is floating
O'er the spires of Cologne,
Above the roofs of Mayence
The Tricolor is flown,
But now between them flutters
Fair freedom's final sign -
The New World's starry banner
Above the German Rhine.
Because ye dreamed that terror
Could stay the arm of right;
That steel was more than honor
And justice less than might,
Our stong-limbed Western legions
have put your hosts to rout
And set on Ehrenbreitstein
The flag ye dared to flout.
We tak no meed of vengance;
No gold nor gear nor crust;
Ye dared us to the combat
And we stretched ye in the dust.
But touch no more out sister
Whose lord ye hoped to be,
And gaod no mor eour brother
Of the islands of the sea.
Of you creed of blood and iron
The world has had surcease;
Mankind is over-weary
To walk its ways in peace.
Lift up your eyes, ye poeple;
Mark wel that high-flung sign'
The flag on Ehrenbreitsein
Above the German Rhine.
Selected verses from a poem by major Joseph Mills Hanson of the Historical Branc of the Headquaters Division of the A. E.F., inspired by the sight of the "Stars and Stripes" floating over the German Fortress, during his first visit to the American Bridgehead.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection