While soldiers languish, battles rage,
By summer death is wrought
Not cannonballs, nor musket shells,
But sickness from the swamps, unsought
Malaria, typhoid, strike them down
A well man scarcely to be found
The deathly summer soon is past
But troubles far from gone
An Army lust--the natives crushed
Forced out again, the Walk that's Long
From their homes, like Trail of Tears
Hopes are buried under fears
Another battle claims the most
Antietam: a slaughter site
Cornstalks wave o'er scores of dead
Neither truly wins the fight
Mutilated men that groan
Forever, what a day to mourn!
By summer death is wrought
Not cannonballs, nor musket shells,
But sickness from the swamps, unsought
Malaria, typhoid, strike them down
A well man scarcely to be found
The deathly summer soon is past
But troubles far from gone
An Army lust--the natives crushed
Forced out again, the Walk that's Long
From their homes, like Trail of Tears
Hopes are buried under fears
Another battle claims the most
Antietam: a slaughter site
Cornstalks wave o'er scores of dead
Neither truly wins the fight
Mutilated men that groan
Forever, what a day to mourn!