"Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! or The Prisoner's Hope" (1864)
As sung by Edwin Kelly
of Arlington Kelly & Leon's Minstrels.
Words and Music by George Frederick Root

1.
In the prison cell I sit, 
Thinking Mother, dear, of you,
And our bright and happy home so far away,
And the tears, they fill my eyes
Spite of all that I can do,
Tho' I try to cheer my comrades and be gay. 

REFRAIN and/or CHORUS 
Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching, 
Cheer up comrades they will come.
And beneath the starry flag
We shall breathe the air again,
Of the free-land in our own beloved home. 

2.
In the battle front we stood
When their fiercest charge they made,
And they swept us off a hundred men or more,
But before we reach'd their lines
They were beaten back dismayed,
And we heard the cry of vict'ry o'er and o'er. 

(REFRAIN and/or CHORUS)

3.
So within the prison cell,
We are waiting for the day
That shall come to open wide the iron door,
And the hollow eye grows bright,
And the poor heart almost gay,
As we think of seeing home and friends once more. 

(REFRAIN and/or CHORUS)