"PEACE!" (1865)
Song and Chorus.
Dedicated to
The American People.
Words by
Mrs. C. Edmonston.
Music by
E. K. Cole, M. D.

New Orleans: C. Edmonston
Plate No. B.144
Wehrmann, Eng[raver].
[Source: 094/074@Levy]

1. Oh! cast the blood stained sword away,
  Shield save us from war’s terrors dread,
Too many of our sons are slain,
  Too many number’d with the dead.
All desolate our valleys green,
  All mould’ring ruins our homesteads are,
Want, care and famine, orphan babes
  Are but the record of the war.

[CHORUS sung after each VERSE]
Sheath, sheath the sword, away with war,
  Be our its blight and dred no more,
Sheath, sheath the sword, let discord cease,
  And one and all huzza for Peace.

2. Go to the cot that stands hard by,
  Its inmates, tell me where are they?
Cold, cold upon the battle field,
  The ravens croaking o’er their prey,
Go where once wealth and grandeur dwelt,
  No joyous hearts are there today.
No ans’wring voice will greet you there
  For exiles, wanderers are they.

3. Shall discord, strife, shall want and woe
  Still desolate our glorious land!
Is there no might to hurl them back
  To rid us of that hated band!
Is there no power in Heaven, or earth
  To stay the tide of crimson blood
That from brave hearts in torrents flows
  And mingles with the mountain flood!

4. Americans, your bark of slate
  All tempest lost, is doom’d to wreck;
One saving power alone remains,
  Peace only, can the dread storm check:
Thou cast the blood stained sword away,
  Unbar the loathsome prison door,
Strike off the chains, Come, heaven born Peace,
  Sweet paeans sing from shore to shore.