A Soldier From Missouri

A soldier from Missouri,
In early manhood's prime,
Lay with the dead an' dyin'
In Mississippi's clime.
He seen his young companions,
The friends of early days,
A-hurryin' from the conflict,
Before the cannon's blaze.

They bore along a standard,
The starred an' barred design,
A flag that he had carried
From near the Kansas line.
"Farewell, my friends an' comrades,
A long an' last adieu,
Though you may shortly follow me
I'll ne'er return to you."

A comrade stopped beside him
An' raised his droopin' head;
"With me this war is over,"
The youthful soldier said.
"With me this war is over,
My marchin's at an end,
An' now a dyin' message
I want by you to send.

"Oh, bear it to my kindred
An' distant friends of mine,
For I have friends and kinfolks
Up near the Kansas line. . . .

"I have an aged mother,
You know that mother well;
Oh, bear to her the tidin's
How I in battle fell.
Tell her I well remember
She give me good advice,
To stay at home in quietness,
Not j'ine the rebel Price.

"I have some brothers also,
Tell them the mournful tale,
An' while in death I'm sleepin'
They will my fate bewail.
I have some wealthy neighbors
Who preached secession loud;
They counseled me an' others
To swell the rebel crowd.

"There was a dark-eyed beauty,
Her name I will not call,
Who swerved me from my duty,
To throng the rebel thrall
Her words I well remember,
"No hand with mine unites
Unless I find them boldly
Defendin' Southern rights.

DT #365
Laws A16
From Ozark Folk Songs, Randolph
Collected from Judy Jane Whittaker, MO, 1928
note: according to Norm Cohen, "one of many parodies of Lady Caroline
Norton's Bingen on the Rhine", which was set to music by Judson I
Hutchinson of the Hutchinson Family. RG
RG
apr96