Before The Maine Went Down
Words by Augusta Howe Chambers
Music by Charles Coleman
Published 1898

The stars in heaven's blue flag of state shone o'er Havana Bay,
Where all, unwarned by treach'rous fate, our mighty cruiser lay.
And mighty sailors dreamed that night of fame and war's renown.
Of laurels won where heroes fight before the Maine went down.

[Chorus]
Before the Maine went down,
mothers and matrons and sweetheart,
In hamlet & village & town,
prayed for and wrote to their darlings
Before the Maine went down,
letters came back from the laddies
Love-laden, home, swift o'er the foam,
Before the Maine went down.
In many homes each absent face
shone in the firelight's gleam.
Or crossed to seek its vacant place,
the threshold of some dream.
But now a nation mourns their loss,
brave hearts no fear could drown.
They died to save their country's cause,
the night the Maine went down.