One By One
By: Wayne Brown
This shallow depression in the ground
Has been my only home now going on 43 days
We Johnny Rebs hold forth as Grant’s Armies besiege
Vicksburg had become a slaughtering ground
We sit here on this river bank entrapped
Starving while we kill the blue boys from Illinois
One by one
I reach and feel the scar’s rough edges
That has permanently marked the right side of my face
A musket ball pierced my cheek yet did not take my life
I live to see this day lying here on this shallow ground
My hunger screams to be salved with morsel
My heart longs to go home to those I love if they have not all died
One by one
I hear the volley of cannons coming from the Misissip’
The metal clad fighting boats struggle amid the strong current flow
Grant’s Army has forded the river now and shutting the world away
We lie here in this shallow depressed ground and watch as they approach
Waiting to kill the blue boys from Illinois
One by one
We barely resemble an army now our lines in disarray
The only thing that holds us here is the fight for the cause, a cause in vain
In those quiet moments when the fighting ceases
I lay here in all my filth trying to get a glimpse of the sky
Trying to see the Face of God, praying for his will to save us
One by one
For many days I thought forces would arrive to forestall the onslaught
That hope has long since faded, lost like a dream
We will stand and fight again, again, and again though we are outnumbered
We will stand and fight and surely kill those blue boys of Illinois
One by one
Tomorrow morning the sun will rise once again over that eastern ridge
I will still be here in this shallow hole in which I hide
Weakness and Hunger will blur our minds; sap our strength for the cause
Grant knows our stomachs cry and soon the white flag waves
He knows I will get up from this shallow ground which I held for 44 days
I will get up and march with my brother Johnny Rebs to surrender
One by one
(Copyright) WBrown2010
