"O, We Are Volunteers" (1888)
Words [adapted from those by G. F. Root of 1862
in "The Silver Chime"] by Mrs. S. M. Smith
Music
by George Frederick Root, 1820-1895
[with added Interlude]

Cincinnati, OH: THE JOHN CHURCH CO., 74 West Fourth Street
[Source: "The Glorious Cause" by Geo. F. Root, pages 60-61;
compare to original version in "The Silver Chime" (1862)]

1. O, we are volunteers in the army of Reform,
We are forming into line as our legions come;
We are under marching orders to take the battlefield,
And we’ll ne’er give o’er the fight till the foe shall yield.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
Come, and join the army, the army of Reform,
All ye sons of temp’rance, to our glorious standard come,
Sharp may be the conflict, fierce and long the fight,
But the end is vict’ry, if we all unite.

2. Our foes are in the field pressing hard on ev’ry side,
They are drunken with success, they are mad with pride;
Craft and cunning and deception, their weapons of attack,
But with honor, truth and courage we¦ll drive them back.

3. O, dark the hours whose burdens have nerved us for the fray,
But the coming dawn is glorious of vict’ry’s day;
See it breaks o’er hall and hamlet, it spreads from shore to shore,
’Tis the sun of hope for temp’rance that sets no more.