The Battle of Shiloh

All you Southerners now draw near,
Unto my story approach you here,
Each loyal Southerner's heart to cheer,
With the victory gained at Shiloh.

O it was on April the sixteenth day,
In spite of a long and muddy way,
We landed safe at Corinth Bay
All on our route to Shiloh,

That night we lay on the cold ground,
No tents nor shelters could we find;
And in the rain we almost drowned
All on our way to Shiloh.

Next morning a burning sun did rise
Beneath the eastern cloudless sky,
And General Beauregard replied:
"Prepare to march to Shiloh."

And when our Shiloh hove in view,
It would the bravest hearts subdue
To see the Yankee melody crew
That held the works at Shiloh.

For they were strongly fortified
With batteries on the river-side.
Our generals viewed the plains and cried:
"We'll get hot work at Shiloh."

And when those batteries strove to gain,
The balls fell around us thick as rain,
And many a hero there was slain,
Upon the plains of Shiloh.

The thirty-third and the Zouaves,
They charged the the batteries and gave three cheers,
And General Beauregard rang the airs '
With Southern steel at Shiloh.

Their guns and knapsacks they threw down,
They ran like hares before the hounds.
The Yankee Dutch could not withstand
The Southern charge at Shiloh.

Now many a pretty maid did mourn
A lover who'll no more return;
The cruel war has from her torn;
His body lies at Shiloh.

From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians, Sharp
Collected from Mr. Philander Fitzgerald, VA 1918
RG
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