I was skimming through this the other day and thought of one way of researching the song I originally overlooked -- pursuing it under the name it was first given in The Index, "McClellan's Retreat."

Unfortunately the search is largely obfuscated by a cocktail bar in Washington, DC of the same name, however I did find it mentioned under that name (likely using the same Index reference) in E. Merton Coulter's The Confederate States of America, 1861–1865 (p. 482).

A different account of the song appears in the Fall 2000 edition of The Watchdog (Vol. 8 No. 4), a review journal for Civil War reenactors. In a segment titled "Songs of Hood's Texas Brigade" (pp. 11-16), the song is referenced three times. The first is from the memoirs of John Stevens, who recalls that the song was "popular in the army after the Peninsula Campaign" (1862).

The second reference is as follows in the preceding paragraphs. Because I'm not limited by space in the same way the Watchdog was, I have taken the liberty to reproduce the song in its entirety. It is almost entirely a unique example of the song, though the chorus does not fit the rhythm very well in my mind.

Dating from 1862 was "McClellan's Retreat", quoted in full by Stevens. A typical stanza shows its affinity to the slightly better known "Abner's Shoes" or "Richmond Hill":

M'CLELLAN'S RETREAT.

'Twas at Mechanicsville,
As the balls 'began to fly,
McClellan wheeled about,
And changed his battle cry.

CHORUS.
Away from Richmond; down
To your gun-boats, run, boys, run
Never mind your haversack,
Never mind your gun,
This fightin' 'o the rebels
Is anything but fun.

Longstreet's in your center,
Jackson 's in your rear,
On the right and left,
Those fighting Hills appear.

Virginia is charging
O'er the swamp and field,
Georgia is coming
With her death dealing steal.

South Carolina sand-lappers
Will ride you on a rail,
North Carolina tar-heels
Are on your trail.

The Florida boys
Are hunting through the brush,
The Mississippi rifles
Are charging with a rush.

Arkansas and Tennessee
Are on us with a whoop,
The Alabama rebels
Will get us in the loop.

Louisiana Legions—-
"Picayune Butler" is their cry,
Hood's ragged Texans
Are bound to win or die.

Lincoln is a humbug,
McClellan is a fool.
Seward is a liar
Of the Horace Greely school.

[13] Johnathan W. Stevens, Reminiscences of the Civil War, p. 32