1.

After the din of the battle's roar,
Just at the close of day,
Wounded and bleeding upon the battle field,
Two wounded soldiers lay.

One held a ringlet of thin, gray hair,
One held a lock of brown,
Bidding each other a fond farewell,
Just as the sun went down.

Chorus:
One thought of Mother, at home alone,
Feeble and old and gray;
One thought of a sweetheart he left in town,

Happy and young and gay.
One kissed a ringlet of thin, grey hair,
One kissed a lock of brown;
Bidding farewell to the Stars and Stripes,
Just as the sun went down.

2.

One knew the joy of a mother's love,
One of a sweetheart, fair.
Thinking of home, they lay side by side,
Breathing a farewell prayer.

One for his mother, so old and gray,
One for his love in town;
They closed their eyes to the earth and the skies,
Just as the sun went down.

The Blue and the Gray
by Francis Miles Finch

By the flow of an inland river,
When the fleets of iron have fled
Where the blades of the grave grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead.

Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the judgment day
Under the one the Blue,
Under the other the Gray.

From the silence of sorrowful hearts
The desolate mourners go,
Lovingly laden with flowers
Alike, for the friend and the foe.

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;
Under the roses, the Blue,
Under the lilies, the Gray.

Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
The generous deed was done.
In the storms of the years that are fading,
No braver battle was won.

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;
Under the blossoms, the Blue,
Under the garlands, the Gray.

No more shall the war cry sever
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead.

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting for Judgment day
Love and tears for the Blue,
Tears and love for the Gray.

I too, have felt the chills while listening to "Taps," but I have never seen all the words until now. I didn't even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song.--Erwin A. Thompson

_______________________________

Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, Captain Ellicombe decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when war broke out.

Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. Captain Ellicombe had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral.

The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician.

The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform.

This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we now know as "Taps" used at military funerals, and at the end of each day on US military bases was born.

TAPS

Day is done,
Gone the sun,
From the lakes,From the hills,
From the skies,
All is well,
Safely rest,
God is nigh.

Fading light,
Dims the sight,
And a star,
Gems the sky,
Gleaming bright,
From afar,
Drawing nigh,
Falls the night.

Thanks and praise,
For our days,
'Neath the sun,
'Neath the stars,
'Neath the sky,
As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.

From: "Old time songs and poems,"written by Edith LaFrancis

"Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Simmon seed, and sandy bottom.
Look away! Look away!
Look away, Dixie Land!"

Daniel Decatur Emmett, a performer in Bryant's Minstrels, in New York City, laid down his pencil--but not for long. Mister Bryant had, on this particular Saturday night, assigned him the task of writing words and music for a new song to be used on their show for the very next week. Daniel kept at it that week-end in 1859 and on Monday came to a rehearsal with the required song completed.

As he sang it, the other singers began singing, and the banjos began a-strumming. Thus the song "Dixie" started along its journey to national popularity.

It was what was called a "walk around" song in the minstrels.

Some time later, at an entertainment in New Orleans, when performers were looking frantically for a marching song for their chorus, they pounced on the new tune of "Dixie" . Still further was this song destined to go, for in 1861 General Pike wrote the stirring words which made "Dixie" the battle song of the South.

"Dixie"--The Southland. Why was it ever called that?

Thirty years before its appearance in song, the word "Dixie" was in common use in New Orleans, among bankers, tradesmen, gamblers, workmen, in fact everyone who used money.

In 1830 paper money was being issued, but there was no stable system for establishing value. Every state, county and bank issued its own notes, and often these were worthless in the next town beyond the place where they were issued.

However, there was in New Orleans one bank which gained such a reputation for honesty and reliability that its notes were accepted anywhere in the country. In all of the towns along the Mississippi and its tributaries, in New York and Philadelphia, were known and honored the ten dollar bills of the Banque de Citoyens de la Louisiane in New Orleans.

This was a French speaking country, and the Creoles printed the money with English on one side and on the other the very large letters D I X. Dix is the French word for ten.

Up the river on the steamboats came these ten dollar bills, for all of the boatmen did their banking at the Banque des Citoyens in New Orleans.

Boatmen wanted their pay in "Dixies,"as they called them, using an English pronunciation for a French word. They would say: "A Dixie is bon-bon as those French fellows say down south!"

The business man would say: "I bought the cotton down in Dixie country," or: "I'll buy a race horse down in Dixie."
As time went on, the use of this term spread until it included the whole territory of the South, and the term stuck when the firing on Fort Sumpter signaled the beginning of the war between the states.

Thus, the walk-around song dreamed up by Daniel Emmett for the New York minstrel traveled North, South, and West. It served as a battle song, and after the war the original words and tune were sung again until they reached the farthest mountain cabin where the old banjo hung on the kitchen wall.

"Dar's buckwheat cakes an' Injun batter,
Makes you fat, or a little fatter,
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie Land!

Den I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand,

I'll live and die in Dixie;
Away! Away! Away down South in Dixie!"

General Albert Pike wrote these words to the original tune, which was used as the battle cry of the South.

Southerns, hear your country call you!
Up! lest worse than death befall you:
To Arms! To Arms! To Arms in Dixie!

Lo, all beacon fires are lighted,
Let all our hearts be now united
To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie!

Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Dixie's land we'll take our stand,
To live and die for Dixie
To arms! To Arms!

And conquer peace for Dixie!
To arms! To arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie!

Hear the Northern thunders mutter!
Northern flags in south winds flutter!
To Arms! To Arms! To arms in Dixie!
Send them back your fierce defiance!

Stamp upon the cursed alliance!
To arms! To arms in Dixie!
Fear no danger, shun no labor!
Lift up rifle,pike and sabre!

To arms! To arms in Dixie!

Barry loves hiking in the Black Mountains of North Carolina, about sixty miles from home, and one of the places he loves.

Barry has previously visited Riehlife to chat about North Carolina hill country and his work (click here).

IN THAT PECULIAR SPACE

by Barry Yelton

At the edge of the universe

a small star spins and pulses

at the very precipice of infinity.

singularity.

where time and space run out...

the curiousness of it is that

it stands at about the center

of a dream I once had

where a small girl walked

along the edge of a pond

amid the green of springtime

and she held a quivering

butterfly in her tiny hand

only to crush the life out of it...

and I think of that star

alone in such vastness

and I wonder again at the beyond

where the universe runs out

of infinity and then

what then?

it must be loneliness.

what else could reside

where even a vacuum cannot?