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BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE (PRAIRIE GROVE) Sung by: Sara Jo Fendley Click here to listen to the original recording Come listen to my song. If you'll but pay attention, I won't detain you long 'Twas of the gallant charges We made at Prairie Grove, Where we and Southern rebels In unequal numbers strove. Our officers were brave leaders; They led us with good will. Although we were outnumbered, We charged them up the hill, And valley (volley ?) after valley, Our shots were made to tell. Our lieutenant colonel And sergeant major fell. Through fields of blood we waded; Our cannon loud did roar, 'Til many a brave commander Lay bleeding in his gore, And heaps of mangled soldiers Upon the field did lay, That had been killed or wounded From the Nineteenth Iowa. Those Rebels fought us bravely, In hopes to gain the day, 'Til General Blunt's artillery Upon them began to play. It caused such a . . . It put them all to flight, And they withdrew their forces In the cover of the night. Next morning we were sorry To see those Rebels' wives A-hunting their dead husbands-- Their melancholy cries-- And sisters finding brothers. They wrung their hands and cried, "Oh, my dear bloody brother, Yes, for Southern rights you've died." Now the battle, it's over; Our men rest from their toil. We carefully buried all our dead Beneath the Southern soil. We buried them in order, As formed on dress parade, And put a board at each man's head To show where he was laid. (Dr. Wolf: "Where'd you learn that?" Mrs. Fendley: "I learned the words from Mr. Mack. He had the . . . He'd had the words a long time, and he wrote the music to it." Dr. Wolf: "Is that Roy Mack?" Mrs. Fendley: "Uh huh." ??: "He wrote them for her, special." Dr. Wolf: "Oh, is that so? Where he get the words?" Mrs. Fendley: "He just said he'd had the words a long time.") Also found in Randolph, Vol. II, #222, "Prairie Grove." |
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All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas Back to the Song Index Back to the Wolf Collection Homepage ©Copyright 2002 Lyon College |