"Comrades Touch the Elbow" (1862)
Song and Chorus
Song of the 9th Co. 7th Reg. N.Y.S.M.
Nathional Guard;
as sung by
Messrs Barnes, Rockwell & Huntington & Members of the Company
arranged by
John Rogers Thomas, 1830-1896

New York: Firth, Son & Co., 563 Broadway
Plate No. 5411
[Sources: @NYPL, 087/089@Levy; 200002049@LoC/IHAS-CWM]

1.
When battle's music greets our ear,
  Our guns are sighted on the foe;
Then nerve the arm and banish fear,
  And Comrades, touch the elbow!

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
Touch the elbow now my legs,
  Comrades, touch the elbow!
Nerve the arm and banish fear,
  Comrades, touch the elbow!

2.
For Home and Country Patriots fire,
  Kindle our souls with fervid glow,
And Southern traitors shall retire
  When Northmen touch the elbow!

3.
Tho' many brave men bite the sod,
  And crimson heart's blood freely flows;
Shout, as our spirit soars above--:
  On Comrades! touch the elbow!

4.
Tho' cannon ball may plow the rank,
  And thro' it cast a deadly glow;
Fill up the space the ball made blank,
  And Comrades, touch the elbow!

5.
Now show the stuff of which you're made,
  The general signal "March" Hallo!
Double the Quick-Step Third Brigade,--
  Charge! Comrades, touch the elbow!