Murderers on the Cumberland Plateau
Written & Recorded by Robin & Linda Williams

The oak and poplar trees grew tall around our mountain farm
With corn in the field and tobacco in the barn
The word came up from Pikesville, cross the ridges to our door
That men were dressed in blue and gray and headed off to war
Our days of living good were short and little did we know
We'd be driven out by murderers from the Cumberland Plateau.

[Shiloh] took a rebel boy, Johnson was his name
His pa called us unionists and he held us to blame
They caught my husband by the spring, they shot him from behind
Leaving nothing but hell's fury burning in this heart of mine
I hid my babies in the woods, I kept their crying low
No one could stop those murderers on the Cumberland Plateau.
(Shiloh is unclear to me)


They burned the house and the fields, they stole the cattle and the swine
Their drunken laughter ridiculed my darling who lay dying
No one was there to hear us as we sang our bitter tune
Of broken-hearted paupers on the wretched road to ruin
So we headed off the mountains to the settlement below
Driven out by murderers from the Cumberland Plateau.

I'm sunburned and I'm dirty and I'm mired in poverty
And the memory of a distant grave is all that carries me
My fists turn white with rage, my face is flooded fury red
When I tell my sons the names of the men who shot their father dead
Oh I can see it, yes, their unforgiving eyes do show
They won't forget those murderers on the Cumberland Plateau.

Oh, dread disease and famine, please don't take my sons
I'll need 'em soon as they have strength to hold a gun
We'll be going back for sure as this world turns around
And the hollows, creeks and snags will ring with the bloody battle sound
Back up to Kentucky where the oak and poplar grow
Back to slay those murderers on the Cumberland Plateau.

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Back up to Kentucky where the oak and poplar grow-ow
Back to slay those murderers on the Cumberland Plateau.