An "old mica miner" of Avery Co., N.C., sang the following, from the "News and Observer" (Raleigh, N.C.), May 12, 1935 :

Come all ye Texan [sic] Rangers, and listen unto me,
I will tell you of some trouble that happened unto me.
My name is nothing extra, my name I will not tell,
It is to you all true rangers, I know I wish you well.

At the age of sixteen that I joined a jolly band,
And marched from Eastern Texas to old Virginia land.
My captain did inform us, because he thought it right,
Before we reached Manassas that we would have to fight.

I saw the Yankees coming, their bullets round me hailed;
My heart sank within me, my courage almost failed.
I saw the smoke a-risin' it almost reached the sky,
I felt at this moment, it is my time to die.

I thought of my old mother, who in tears to me did say
You're going off to battle, at home you'd better stay.
I thought that she was childish, or else she didn't know;
My mind was bent on roving, and I was bound to go.

We fought for nine full hours before the strife was o'er,
The like of dead and wounded I never saw before.


Some stanzas may be missing, but this would sound "incomplete" only if you'd never heard the whole song.

The collector, Maude Minish Sutton, had a lesser version from a Confederate veteran, Mr. Barnett, who told her he'd "'fit right side of' the Texan from whom he learned the song."