Would you like to hear my song, I'm afraid it's rather long,
Of the famous road to Richmond, double trouble, Of the half a dozen trips and the half a dozen
slips, And the very latest bursting of the bubble?
It's pretty hard to sing, and, like a rolling ring,
It's a dreadful, knotty puzzle to unravel Though all the papers swore when we reached
Virginia's shore That Richmond is a hard road to travel
Then haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel, Haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.
First McDowell, bright and gay, set forth the shortest way
By Manassas in the pleasant summer weather, But unfortunately ran on a Stonewall, foolish
man, He had a rocky journey altogether.
He found it rather hard to ride over Beauregard And Johnston proved a deuce of a bother,
It was clear beyond a doubt that he didn't like the route,
And a second time he'd have to find another.
Then haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
Manassas is a hard road to travel, Manassas gave us fits and Bull Run made us
grieve, And Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.
Next came the wooly horse with an overwhelming force
To march down to Richmond by the valley, But he couldn't find the road, and his onward
motion showed His campaigning was no more than shilly shally.
And "Commissary" Banks; with his motley foreign ranks
Kicking up a great noise, fuss and flurry; Left the whole of his supplies; and with tears
in his eyes From Stonewall ran away in a hurry.
Then haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves;
The valley is a hard road to travel. The valley wouldn't do and we all had to leave; for Richmond is a hard road to travel I believe
Well McClellan followed soon, with both spade and balloon,
To try the peninsular approaches, But one and all agreed that his best rate
of speed Was no faster than the slowest of slow coaches.
And instead of easy ground, at Williamsburg he found
A Longstreet indeed, and nothing shorter, And it put him in the dumps that spades wasn't
trumps, And the hills he couldn't level as he orter.
Then haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves
Longstreet is a hard road to travel Put down the shovel and throw away the spade,
And Richmond is a hard road to travel, I'm afraid.
Then Lincoln said to Pope, "You can make the trip I hope.
I will save the universal Yankee nation. To make sure of no defeat, I'll leave no lines
of retreat, And I'll issue a famous Proclamation."
But that same dreadful Jackson, that fellow laid his whacks on,
Which made him by compulsion a see-Cedar, And Pope took rapid flight in the middle of
the night `Twas his very last appearance as a leader.
Then haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
Stonewall is a hard road to travel, Pope did his very best but was evidently sold,
And Richmond is a hard road to travel, I am told.
Last of all the brave Burnside, with his pontoon bridges, tried
A road no one had thought of before him, With two hundred thousand men for the Rebels'
slaughter pen And the blessed Union banner waving o'er him.
But he met a fire like hell of canister and shell,
The troops were mowed down with great slaughter. `Twas a dreadful sight to view, that second
Waterloo; Why, the river ran with more blood than water!
Then haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves
Rappahannock is a hard road to travel Burnside got into a trap which caused him
to grieve, And Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.
We are very much perplexed to know who is the next
To command the next Richmond expedition For the Capital must blaze, and that in ninety
days, And Jeff and his men be sent to Perdition.
We'll take the cursed town, then we'll burn it down,
We'll plunder and hang up each cursed Rebel, Though the contraband was right when he said
they would fight, Those Rebels, they fight like the devil!
Then haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves;
Richmond is a hard road to travel.