"Gone to the War" [Apr 1863]
[Quartette]
[Words--anonymous]
Music by George Frederick Root [1820-1895]

Chicago, IL: Root & Cady
[Source: from Root & Cady's magazine, first edition of April 
1863, "The Song Messenger of the West".; reprinted on page 
127 of P. H. Carder's "George F. Root,: Civil War Songwriter 
-- A Biography" (Jefferson, NC: McFarland Company Inc, 2008)]

1. Out from our homes and hearthstones,
Noble of heart and hand,
Each to the call responding,
“God and our own proud land!”
Brothers, and friends, and husbands,
Follow the guiding star!
Gone from our houses, God help us,
Gone,  gone to the war!

2. Lips that are white with anquish,
Murmurs nor falt’ring know,
Saying a calm “God speed you!”
Bidding them bravely “go,”
Somewhere the danger thickest,
Somewhere it sounds afar—
All with our pray’rs and blessings,
Gone, gone to the war!

3. O, if the Lord of battles,
Were not our strength and stay,
Mothers, and wives, and sisters,
Where should we turn today?
But knowing His pow’r extendeth,
Where’re His children are,
Trusting we pray, “God keep them,
Gone, gone to the war!”