Dear Sister

— Louisa Brandscomb & Claire Lynch

This could be my last letter,
I may never see the cotton fields of home… again.
I miss you dear sister-tonight I never felt so all alone.
And the fog was so thick, that the Stone’s River stars,
Could scarcely invade the dread and dark.
And all that I could see, when I closed my eyes to dream,
Was home, sweet home.

In the camps of Round Forest,
The midnight coals were glowing through the haze.
The Union boys sang “Hail Columbia”,
Then we sang “look away… look away”.
Then a hush in the rain,
And there rose a sweet refrain.
In the dark, before dawn, and instead of battle songs,
The enemy and we all sang a melody of “Home Sweet Home”.

So if this is my last letter,
And I never see the cotton fields of home again,
And if I fall here at Stone’s River,
I know that God will bear away my soul to be with him.
And I’ll wait for you there, where all is bright and fair,
Where the light of His face, outshines the Blue and Gray,
Where all of humankind, yes every man will find his home… sweet home.