Lyr Add: I'm Going to Join the Army

Subject: Lyr Add: I'M GOING TO JOIN THE ARMY
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Jul 20 - 01:43 PM

This is Laws Number 33.

From a letter from Private Robert Walker (1841-1864), of Saltlick Township, Ohio, to his sister:


                                                               "Ooltewah Station, Tennessee
                                                                March the 9th, 1864.

                                        SOLDIER'S FAREWELL

Fare you well my darling, so fare you well my dear,
Don't grieve for my long absence, whilst I'm a volunteer.

Since it has been my fortune, a soldier for to be,
Content yourself my darling, and don't you grieve for me.

I am going to Chattanooga to tarry for a while,
Far from my true lover, about a hundred miles.

The cannon's loudly roaring, the bullets swiftly fly,
The drums and fifes are sounding to drown the deadly cry.

See how she rings her lily white hands, how mournful she does cry!
You will go and join the army, and in the war you will die.

In the center you will be placed, and in the battle slain.
It will burst my heart asunder, if I never see you again.

We will mount upon the battery and turn the wheels around,
We will shout and cry out victory all over southern ground.

We will march up to Knoxville, and there we'll raise the sound
We are bound to whip old Longstreet, wherever he is found.

"Copied by Robert Walker, Co. H, 90th Reg't. O. V. Infantry."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I'm Going to Join the Army
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Jul 20 - 02:03 PM

What was your source for these lyrics, Lighter?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I'm Going to Join the Army
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Jul 20 - 02:38 PM

Clara A. Glenn, ed., "Letters of Robert Walker, A Soldier in the Civil War of 1861-65" (Viroqua, Wis.: Vernon County Censor, 1917), p. 23:

https://tinyurl.com/yddyjoaw