The Boys In Blue
"On to Richmond!" "On to Atlanta!"
Is the war cry the country all through,
Butternuts, clear the way for the Yankee,
The brave Boys that are dressed in the Blue.
There's a man by the name of Ulysses
Who is putting the Butternuts through;
He sees through Jeff Davis's devices,
And leads on the Boys in the Blue.
There's a man called General Sherman
And he's death on the Butternuts too;
His flank movements the Rebels alarmin,
When he comes with his soldiers in Blue.
Johnny Rebs think that Lee and Joe Johnson
Can save the Confederate crew;
But Grant will soon be in Richmond,
With his boys that are dressed in the Blue.
Billy Sherman is bound for Atlanta,
And this centre of Rebeldom too;
Will fall like a rotten old shanty,
'Fore the Boys that are dressed in the Blue.
Then down goes this wicked rebellion,
Down goes old Jeff Davis too;
Then hear the glad shouts for the Union
And soldiers that's dressed in the Blue.
Then cheers upon cheers for Ulysses,
And all of his Generals too,
The world will be filled with his praises,
And his Boys that dressed in the Blue.
Three cheers then for Abraham Lincoln,
And true men the country all through;
For sustaining the Flag of the Union
And the Boys in the jackets of Blue.
We'll shout for our glorious Union,
One that rebels can never undo;
With Freedom all over the Nation
And honor for Boys in the Blue.
Wives, mothers and sweethearts will greet us,
When this cruel war is all through;
And when all the pretty girls meet us
They "go for" the Boys in the Blue.
Written in the Field Hospital at Resaca, Ga., on account of a wound received in the battle, and published in the Chattanooga Gazette, June 14, 1864.
From: War Songs Poems and Odes by R.W. Burt
Peoria Illinois 1909
Copyright © 1995-2000 Larry Stevens