"The Battle on Shiloh Hill" (circa 1862-1865)
Words by M. B. Smith
(Company C, 2nd Regiment, Texas Volunteers)
Music adapted from "Wandering Sailor"

1.
Come all ye valliant soldiers, 
A story I will tell,
About the bloody battle
That was fought on Shiloh hill.
It was an awfull struggle
And will cause your blood to chill,
It was the bloody battle
That was fought on Shiloh Hill.

2.
It was the Sixth of April,
Just the break of day,
The drums and fifes was playing
For us to march away;
The feeling of that hour
I do remember still,
For the wounded and the dying
That lay of Shiloh Hill.

3.
About the hour of sunrise
The battle it began,
And before the day had vanished
We fought them hand to hand;
The horrors of the field
Did my heart with anquish fill,
The wounded and the dying
That lay on Shiloh Hill.

4.
They were men from every nation
Laid on them bloody plains,
Fathers, sons and brothers
Were numbered with the slain,
That has caused so many homes
With deep mourning to be filled,
All from the bloody battle
That was fought on Shiloh Hill.

5.
The wounded men were crying
For help from everywhere,
Where others, who were dying,
Were offering God their prayer,
"Protect my wife and children
If it it Thy holy will!"
Such were the prayers I heard
That night on Shiloh Hill.

6.
And early the next morning
We were called to arms again,
Unmindful of the wounded
And unmindful of the slain,
The struggle was renewed
And ten thousand me were killed;
This was the second confict
Of the famous Shiloh Hill.

7.
The battle it raged on,
Though dead and dying men
Lay thick all o'er the ground,
On the hill and on the glen;
And from their deadly wounds
The blood ran like a rill;
Such were the mournful sights
That I saw on Shiloh.

8.
Before the day was ended
The battle ceased to roar,
And thousands of brave soldiers
Had fell to rise no more;
They left their vacant ranks
For some other ones to fill,
And now their mouldering bodies
All lie on Shiloh Hill.

9.
And now my song is ended
About them bloody plains,
I hope the sight by mortal man
May ne'er be seen again;
But I'll pray to God, the Saviour,
"If consistent with Thy will,
To save the souls of all who fell
On bloody Shiloh Hill."

SOURCES:
(1) pp. 234, 246-247 from "Songs of the Civil War" edited and compiled by Irwin Silber
(2) compare to pp. 344, 348 from "The Folk Songs of North America" by Alan Lomax

FACTS:
The battle of Shiloh Hill occured from April 6 to 7 in 1862
at the river port town of Pittsburg Landing in western Tennessee.
General Beauregard commanded some 40,000 southern troops.
General Grant commanded slighty more Union troups.
"Both armies suffered casualities of approximately 25% in
killed, wounded, and missing in a battle which ended in
a stalemate." (ref. (1))