"They Have Broken Up Their Camps" (23 June 1865)
Words by Maj. John B. Jewell
Music by George Frederic Root, 1820-1895

[Copyright filed June 23, 1865 by Root & Cady; no plate number;
pages 69-71 of "Our National War Songs" (1884)]

1.
They have broken up their camps,
They laughing o'er their tramps,
They are gladly greeting friends who flock around them;
They have left the scanty fare,
They have left the tainted air,
For they've dashed to earth the prison wall that bound them.

CHORUS
They are coming from the wars
With their wounds and with their scars;
But they're bringing back the dear old flag in glory--
They have battled long and well;
And let after ages tell
How they won the proudest name in song or story.

2.
We are eager with our thanks,
We are pressing on their ranks,
We are grasping hands that held the States unbroken;
Yet we sadly think of those
Who have fallen 'mid their foes,
And the welcome that we give is sadly spoken.

(CHORUS)

3.
Oh, the long delay has passed,
They have brought us peace at last;
And how proudly through our veins the blood is pounding,
As we bless our honor'd dead,
While the steady martial tread
Of returning legions in our ears are sounding.

(CHORUS)