|
|
The Vacant Chair(We Shall Meet but We Shall Miss Him)Washburn and Root 1861 |
Private Halver
Anderson of Company B
Died May 25, 1862, Island No. 10, Tennessee
Drawing
courtesy of Ronald Pearson
This was one of the most widely sung songs of the American Civil War (1861-1865). It was popular with soldiers and civilians alike, both in the North and in the South. The words were penned by Henry S. Washburn at Thanksgiving, 1861, in honor of a deceased soldier. They were set to music by the prolific and popular composer George F. Root.
We shall meet but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair;
We
shall linger to caress him
While we breath our evening prayer.
When one
year ago we gathered,
Joy was in his mild blue eye,
Now the golden cord
is severed,
And our hopes in ruin lie.
Chorus
We shall meet but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him
While we breath our evening prayer.
At our fireside, sad and lonely,
Often will the bosom swell
At
remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie fell;
How he strove to
bear our banner
Thro' the thickest of the fight,
And uphold our
country's honor
In the strength of manhood's might.
Chorus
True they tell us wreaths of glory
Evermore will deck his brow,
But
this soothes the anguish only
Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now,
Sleep
today O' early fallen
In they green and narrow bed,
Dirges from the pine
and cypress
Mingle with the tears we shed.
Chorus
This page Copyright 1999 by
Scott Cantwell Meeker of Deep
Vee Productions.
All Rights Reserved. Last updated November 27, 1999.