"Sleep, Sacred Dust of Noble Dead" (circa 1865)
by James Ramsay Murray

[Source: pp. 154-155 from "Our National War Songs" (1884);
Cleveland: S. Brainard's Sons, Plate No. 15779-2]

1.
O brothers while with tender grief
Our falling tears bedew your grave,
With smiling bud and bloom and leaf,
We wreathe your names so true and brave;
For wit hte conquering Prince of Peace,
In God's great army on ye go;
Where joyful service ne'er shall cease,
And tears of sorrow never flow.

REFRAIN
Sleep, sacred dust of noble dead,
Spring's brightest bloom shall deck your bed,
Spring's brightest bloom shall deck your bed.
March on! march on! brave souls that won the victor's palm on high.

2.
In patriot hues we write anew
Our pledge of gratitude and love;
As flow'rs of red and white and blue
We twine each low, green mound above.
The red shall show the blood they shed;
The white, souls loyal to the last,
The blue heaven's triumph-arch o'er head,
Thro' which to God's "well done" they passed.

(REFRAIN)