and a rifle we could keep
When I first laid eyes on the general
I knew he was a fightin' man
He was every inch a soldier,
every word was his command
Well his eyes were cold as the lead
and steel forged into tools of war
He took the lives of many and the
Well they marched us to Missouri
and we hardly stopped for rest
And then he made this speech and said,
"We're comin' to the test"
Well we've got to take Saint Louie
boys before the Yankees do
If we control the Mississippi then the
Well they told us that our enemy
would all be dressed in blue
Well they forgot about the winter's
cold and the cursed fever too
My brother died at Wilson's
Creek and Lord I seen him fall
We fell back to the Boston Mountains in the
And on the way to Fayetteville
we cursed McCulloch's name
And mourned the dead that we'd left
behind and we was carrying the lame
I killed a boy the other night who'd
I don't even know what I'm fightin' for,
I ain't never owned a slave
So I snuck out of camp and then I
heard the news next night
The Yankees won the battle and McCulloch lost his life,
