"Our Soldier"
(c1863; filed 11 Jan 1864; copyright library 5 Aug 1865;
No. 1159; 28513; M1640.W]
Affectionately & Respectfully inscribed
to the
Family, Comrades, & Friends of the late
William Hart Massey
Sometime Adjutant of the 65th Regt.
Ohio Volunteers.
Words by E. B. Dewing.
Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster, 1819-1875.

Chicago: H. M. HIGGINS, 117 Randolph St.
[Souce: 200002236@LoC/IHAS-CWM]

1. 
He left us in the pride of youth,
His brave heart full of manly hope; 
Nor falter’d when the cause of truth, 
With error base must sternly cope. 
Forth from our midst that summer morn, 
With free, firm step and laughing eye; 
Of half its beauty life seemed shorn, 
And darkly shadowed our home sky. 
  Of half its beauty life seemed shorn, 
  And darkly shadowed our home sky.

2. 
He marched o’er trait’rous southern fields,
The “dark and bloody ground” reviewed;
He saw the fruit which treason yields,
And there his fealty renewed.
His column moved at double quick,
To music of a hundred guns,
On Shiloh, where the air made thick
By smoke of battle, wrapt our sons.
  On Shiloh, where the air made thick
  By smoke of battle, wrapt our sons.

3. 
With dauntless soul that winter morn
He heard Stone river’s loud alarms,
And prompt, with nerve of courage born
He welcomd there the shock of arms.
For many a weary hour then
Our Boy was foremost in the fray;
With flashing blade he cheer’d his men,
And led them on to win the day.
  With flashing blade he cheer’d his men,
  And led them on to win the day.

4. 
With serried ranks undaunted stand
Five hundred ’ganst an army corps;
But now the bravest of that band
Is stricken down, all wet with gore:
“Leave me,” he cries, “nor stop to save;
A fallen soldier may not fight—
But use the musket, comrades brave,
Your sabres nobly wield for right.
  But use the musket, comrades brave,
  Your sabres nobly wield for right.”

5. 
God rules the storm! our holy cause
A hard fought field has dearly won;
Our foemen fly, and in the pause
Of war, we find our dying one.
’Tis hard to part;— dear Will farewell;
We hear no more thy voice of love,
But thy good name with magic spell
Shall haunt us, till we meet above.
  But thy good name with magic spell
  Shall haunt us, till we meet above.

REFRAIN (to be sung only after the last verse)
We have laid him to rest, 
On the earth’s silent breast, 
And the night winds still echo his knell; 
Oh! we loved Willie dear, 
And the last welling tear 
Shall be shed where our hero sleeps well. 
sleeps (He) well (sleeps well),
sleeps (He) well (sleeps well),
sleeps well. (He sleeps well.)