A historical folk song from the 1980's about first Battle of Bull Run in 1861 (in which 3,000 Union Army soldiers were killed) during the U.S. Civil War that led to end of legalized enslavement of African-Americans in the USA.
lyrics
(chorus)
The Battle of Bull Run
Three thousand dead in just one day
Although their cause was just
At Bull Run they had to run away.
(verses)
They gathered in Washington so young and so untrained
They all were volunteers, to serve a cause they came;
To tame the slavocracy, they heeded Lincoln's call
And newspapers in the North expected an easy war. (chorus)
The civilians cheered them on, the women kissed and hugged
Their uniforms were all new, but untested were their guns;
Thirty thousand began to march to put down the Confederacy
It all seemed like a game until they felt the heat. (chorus)
The knapsacks seemed too heavy, their boots all hurt their feet
The hot sun made them thirsty and there was no water to drink;
From hills civilians watched them as they neared the Bull Run stream
But when the cannons fired, the soldiers began to scream. (chorus)
Confusion, panic, terror, arms and legs shot off
A jolly friend next to you, on the ground now, his life lost;
Disorganized and with no leaders, bombarded by Stonewall
The collapsing Union Army could defend Washington no more. (chorus)
The secessionist slave owners, because of weary troops,
Could not follow up their victory and make Lincoln lick their boots;
The spectators and reporters joined in the Yankee flight
And realized that the cause of freedom would cost many more young lives. (chorus)
The Battle of Bull Run
Three thousand dead in just one day
Although their cause was just
At Bull Run they had to run away.
(verses)
They gathered in Washington so young and so untrained
They all were volunteers, to serve a cause they came;
To tame the slavocracy, they heeded Lincoln's call
And newspapers in the North expected an easy war. (chorus)
The civilians cheered them on, the women kissed and hugged
Their uniforms were all new, but untested were their guns;
Thirty thousand began to march to put down the Confederacy
It all seemed like a game until they felt the heat. (chorus)
The knapsacks seemed too heavy, their boots all hurt their feet
The hot sun made them thirsty and there was no water to drink;
From hills civilians watched them as they neared the Bull Run stream
But when the cannons fired, the soldiers began to scream. (chorus)
Confusion, panic, terror, arms and legs shot off
A jolly friend next to you, on the ground now, his life lost;
Disorganized and with no leaders, bombarded by Stonewall
The collapsing Union Army could defend Washington no more. (chorus)
The secessionist slave owners, because of weary troops,
Could not follow up their victory and make Lincoln lick their boots;
The spectators and reporters joined in the Yankee flight
And realized that the cause of freedom would cost many more young lives. (chorus)
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