His was the nation's sacrifice, And ours the priceless gain.

These lines frame an individual death as a public offering: one person bears the cost (“the nation’s sacrifice”) so that the community may inherit the benefits (“our…gain”). Whittier’s phrasing turns private loss into civic meaning, suggesting that national progress or preservation is purchased through personal suffering. The contrast between “sacrifice” and “priceless gain” emphasizes an ethical debt: the living enjoy security, unity, or freedom that they did not themselves pay for. Read this way, the couplet functions as elegy and admonition—honoring the fallen while reminding survivors that their advantages carry obligations of remembrance, gratitude, and responsible citizenship.