To
Those Who Wore It
"The
Faded
Gray Jacket
or
Fold It Up Carefully" (1866)
Words by
Mrs. C. A. Ball
Music by
Charlie L. Ward
Author of "We Know That We Were Rebels" &c.

Louisville, KY: D. P. Faulds, 70 Mail Street
J. Schann, Eng[raver].[lithographer?]
Plate No. 1433-5
J. Slinglandt, Engr.
[Source: 093/055@Levy]

1. Fold it up carefully, and lay it aside,
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride—
For dear must it be t our hearts ever more,
The Jacket of gray our loved soldier boy wore.
Can we e’er forget when he joined the brave band.
Who rose in defence of our dear Southern band.
And, in his bright youth, hurried on to the fray;
How proudly he donn’d it, the Jacket of gray.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
Fold it up carefully, lay it aside,
Tenderly touch it, look on it with Pride—
For dear must it be to our hearts ever more,
The Jacket of Gray our loved Soldier boy wore.

2. His fond mother blessed him, and look’d up above,
Commending to Heaven the child of her love;
What anguish was her’s mortal tongue may not say
When he pass’d from her sight in the Jacket of gray
But her country had call’d him she would not repine.
Tho’ costly the sacrifice placed on its shelve;
Her heart’s dearest hopes on its altar she lay,
When she sent out her boy in the Jacket of gray.

3. Months pass’d, and war’s thunders roll’d over the land,
Unleash’d was the sword, and lighted the brand
We heard in the distance the sounds of the fray,
And pray’d for our boy in the jacket of gray.
And vain, all, all vain, were our pray’rs and our tears;
The glad shout of Victory rang in our ears;
But our treasure’d ones on the battle field lay.
While the life blood oos’d out on the Jacket of gray.

4. His young comrades found him, and tenderly bore—
The cold lifeless form, to his home by the shore;
Oh! dark were our hearts on that terrible day,
When we saw our dead boy in the jacket of gray;
Ah! spotted and tattered and stained now with gore
Was the garment which once he so proudly wore;
We bitterly wept as we took it away,
And replaced, with death’s white robes, the jacket of gray.

5. We laid him to rest, in his cold narrow bed,
And graved on the marble we placed o’er his head
As the proudest of tributes our sad hearts could pay,
“He never disgraced the jacket of gray.”
Then fold it up carefully, lay it aside,
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride—
For dear must it be to our hearts evermore,
The jacket of gray our soldier boy wore.