| |
| FOUR hundred thousand men, | |
| The brave, the good, the true, | |
| In tangled wood, in mountain glen, | |
| On battle plain, in prison pen, | |
| Lie dead for me and you! | 5 |
| Four hundred thousand of the brave | |
| Have made our ransomed soil their grave, | |
| For me and you! | |
| Good friend, for me and you! | |
| |
| In many a fevered swamp, | 10 |
| By many a black bayou, | |
| In many a cold and frozen camp, | |
| The weary sentinel ceased his tramp, | |
| And died for me and you! | |
| From Western plain to ocean tide | 15 |
| Are stretched the graves of those who died | |
| For me and you! | |
| Good friend, for me and you! | |
| |
| On many a bloody plain | |
| Their ready swords they drew, | 20 |
| And poured their life-blood, like the rain, | |
| A home, a heritage to gain, | |
| To gain for me and you! | |
| Our brothers mustered by our side, | |
| They marched, and fought, and bravely died, | 25 |
| For me and you! | |
| Good friend, for me and you! | |
| |
| Up many a fortress wall | |
| They charged,—those boys in blue,— | |
| Mid surging smoke and volleyed ball, | 30 |
| The bravest were the first to fall! | |
| To fall for me and you! | |
| Those noble men,—the Nation’s pride,— | |
| Four hundred thousand men have died, | |
| For me and you! | 35 |
| Good friend, for me and you! | |
| |
| In treason’s prison-hold | |
| Their martyr spirits grew | |
| To stature like the saints of old, | |
| While, amid agonies untold, | 40 |
| They starved for me and you! | |
| The good, the patient, and the tried, | |
| Four hundred thousand men have died, | |
| For me and you! | |
| Good friend, for me and you! | 45 |
| |
| A debt we ne’er can pay | |
| To them is justly due, | |
| And to the Nation’s latest day | |
| Our children’s children still shall say, | |
| “They died for me and you!” | 50 |
| Four hundred thousand of the brave | |
| Made this our ransomed soil their grave, | |
| For me and you! | |
| Good friend, for me and you! | |
| |
