Dick,

There is a music-hall song with a chorus that goes:

Just break the news to mother
You know how dear I love her
And tell her not to wait for me
For I'm not coming home
Just tell her that no other
Can take the place of mother
And kiss those two fond lips for me
Just break the news to her

It may be civil war (I had always assumed it to be WW1).

Fred Jordan from Shropshire sings it. It is one of those songs with a very different tune to the verse & chorus. It's about a young soldier saving the flag & being killed & the colonel coming up & finding that the lad is his son who has run away to enlist.

If this is the one you mean, then reply on this thread & I'll dig you the words out.
Cheers

Paul