Come All Ye Southern Soldiers

Come all ye Southern Soldiers, come listen unto me
I'll tell you of some trouble that happened unto me;
When I was the age of sixteen I joined the jolly band
I marched from eastern Tennessee to the old Virginia land.

Our captain did inform me, perhaps he thought it right,
Before we reached Manassas he said we'd have to fight.
I heard the Yankee coming, I heard them give command;
To arms, to arms, they shouted, and by your colours stand.

I saw the smoke descending, I thought it reached the sky,
The very next thought come over me, now is my time to die.
I saw the rifles glittering, the bullets round me fell,
Such feeling as came over me no mortal tongue can tell.

There's nine brave Texas soldiers as ever trod the West
Was buried by the colours with bullets in their breasts.
We fought for nine long hours before the strife was o'er,
The like of dead and wounded I never saw before.

Perhaps you have a mother, likewise a sister too ,
And maybe you have a sweetheart to weep and mourn for you.
If such be your condition, although you like to roam,
I'll tell you by experience you'd better stay at home.

From English Folk Songs in the Southern Appalachians, Sharp
Collected from Mrs. W. L. Godfrey, NC 1918
RG