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Comrades brave are round me lying,
Filled with thoughts of home and God;
For well they know that, on the morrow,
Some will sleep beneath the sod.
Chorus—
Farewell, mother, you may never,
You may never, mother,
Press me to your breast again;
But O, you'll not forget me,
Mother, you will not forget me
If I'm number'd with the slain.
Low in the ground they're resting
Northern sentiment found vent in many beautiful memorial day odes.
Several of these possessed genuine poetic excellence.
Low in the ground they're resting,
Proudly the flag waves o'er them;
Never more 'mid wars contesting
To save the land that bore them!
Chorus—
Sleep, brave ones, rest, in hallow'd graves!
Our flag now proudly o'er you waves!
Vict'ry and fame, vict'ry and fame,
Loudly forever shall your brave deeds proclaim,
Loudly forever shall your brave deeds proclaim.
Weeping, sad and lonely
When this cruel war is over
Most popular of all in North and South alike was the song known as
when this Cruel war is over. it was heard in every camp, the
Southern soldiers inserting ‘gray’ for ‘blue’ in the sixth line of the first stanza.
It is doubtful if any other American song was ever upon so many tongues.
One million copies were sold during the war.
Dearest love, do you remember,
When we last did meet,
How you told me that you loved me,
Kneeling at my feet?
Oh, how proud you stood before me,
In your suit of blue,
When you vowed to me and country
Ever to be true.
Chorus-
Weeping, sad and lonely,
Hopes and fears how vain!
Yet praying, when this cruel war is over,
Praying that we meet again!
Poor old slave
This song, while not directly connected with the events of the war, was widely popular during the struggle.
'Tis just one year ago today,
That I remember well,
I sat down by poor Nelly's side
And a story she did tell.
'Twas 'bout a poor unhappy slave,
That lived for many a year;
But now he's dead, and in his grave,
No master does he fear.
Chorus—
The poor old slave has gone to rest,
We know that he is free;
Disturb him not but let him rest,
Way down in Tennessee.
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When this cruel war is over
With the quaint style of hair-dressing that ruled in 1864, in flowered skirt and ‘Garibaldi blouse,’ this beautiful woman, the wife of a Federal army officer, was photographed in front of the winter quarters of Captain John R. Coxe, in February, at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, Brandy Station.
She was even then looking at her soldier husband, who sat near her in his ‘suit of blue,’ or perhaps thinking of the three years of terrific fighting that had passed.
Shiloh, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg-all of these had been fought and the toll of the ‘cruel war’ was not yet complete. |
