Battle Of Arkansas Post
Sons of Freedom listen to me
While a battle song I sing;
The eleventh day of January,
To your memory I will bring.
Arkansas Post the battle field,
Upon Arkansas winding stream;
Where many braves to death did yield
Amid the battle's fiery gleam.
Our valiant Colonel Charley Woods,
Led on the charge with waving sword;
He knew the Seventy-sixth was good,
To follow him where cannons roared.
And where the bullets thickest flew,
Lieutenant Colonel William B.;
Was cheering on the brave and true,
To fight and win the victory.
Amid the storm of leaden hail
The Seventy-sixth led on the way;
They turned not back, they knew no fail,
But fought until they won the day.
Three hours we fought the rebel foe,
While they behind their breastworks stood,
Our Springfield rifles laid them low
Whenever one would show his head.
'Twas there the gallant Lemert fell,
The Captain of Company A.;
Who followed him they loved so well,
Where danger only marked the way.
And as the blood flow'd from his side,
The dying Lemert did exclaim;
"Our Fathers for their Country died,
And I can freely do the same."
It cost us many noble boys
Who fell upon the field that day;
They bravely fought for Freedom's cause,
For Union and for Liberty.
At last the Rebs were forced to yield,
And Freedom's Flag waved o'er our foes;
And then all over the battle field,
The gladdening shouts of Freemen rose.
Our wounded officers and men,
Will always carry battle scars;
They've honors that were nobly won
When fighting Freedom's glorious wars.
Long may the glorious Seventy-sixth
In Freemen's mem'ries be enshrined;
And when our boundries are fixed,
We'll bring these battle scenes to mind.
For Freedom's glorious cause, hurrah!
And tremble not at war's alarms,
The Seventy-sixth will fight it through,
'Till Rebels all lay down their arms.
From: War Songs Poems and Odes by R.W. Burt
Peoria Illinois 1909
Copyright © 1995-2000 Larry Stevens