To Our Brave Boys in the Army.
"The War Will Soon Be Over John" (1863)
[aka "The War Will Soon Be Over, John!"]
Song and Chorus
by William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907

[Source: 090/127@LoC]

1.
We're out on pick-et now, John,
  Where oft we've been be-fore,
We've fought in man-y bat-tles
  We may fight in man-y more,
Our Com-rades most are in their graves
  But you and I re-main.
The war will soon be o-ver, John,
  We'll all go home a-gain.

CHORUS
Cheer up! Cheer up! my brave boys,
  Our hopes are nev-er slain.
The war will soon be o-ver boys,
  We'll all go home a-gain.

2.
We left our homes, so dear, John,
  Our chil-dren and our wives;
To of-fer to our Coun-try's Cause
  Our lib-er-ty and lives,
Though you and I were wound-ed oft,
  Ah! still let hope re-main.
The war will soon be o-ver, John,
  We'll all be home a-gain.

(CHORUS)

3.
How man-y of our friends, John,
  Those whom we loved so well;
Have fought like gal-lant he-roes,
  And who blood-y are fell,
We oft-en think of them and weep,
  Our hearts are full of pain.
The war will soon be o-ver, John,
  We'll all, go home a-gain.

(CHORUS)

4.
I 'list-ed for three years, John,
  Three years of dur-ing war;
In ev-er-y bat-tle, on the field
  They've al-ways found us there,
We've marched through win-try weath-er,
  The hot sun and the rain,
The war will soon be o-ver, John,
  We'll all go home a-gain.

(CHORUS)

5.
Ah! Peace will be de-clared; John,
  A Na-tion will re-joice;
In shout-ing for our Vic-tor-ies
  We'll lend a help-ing voice;
Then you'll go home to, "Mar-y Ann,"
  And I'll go home to Jane,
The war will soon be o-ver, John,
  We'll all go home a-gain.

(CHORUS)