---===* Reconstruction *===---

They said the war was over, now.
They sent us home to rest.
They said the Union won the war,
Defeated all our best.
-=*=-
They told us that we lost with pride,
That we had done our share.
But when I came home to my farm,
The debt I'd paid was there.
-=*=-
The house was wrecked, my wife was sick,
The barn was scattered wood.
And of the livestock, nothing left,
They'd picked it over, good.
-=*=-
My children slept in piles of hay,
And ate on rats and gruel,
But I'd been told I did my share,
So why was this so cruel?
-=*=-
A carpetbagger from the North,
Came by, with clutching hand.
I had no money, worth a cent,
And so, he took my land.
-=*=-
I sold the mule they'd given me,
To feed us, while I could.
And thought of all the words they said,
About how we were good.
-=*=-
The food is gone, my wife has died,
I've sent the kids to Ben.
And now I'm sittin' here, alone.
To plan a final when.
-=*=-
I have my rifle, shined and charged,
I'd sell it, if I could.
But rifles, now, will bring no price,
They're only steel and wood.
-=*=-
Instead, I think I'll walk to town,
And finish up the war.
And shoot the man who took our farm,
To even up our score.
-=*=-
They promised us that it was done.
Then sent us home to die.
And always knowin' what they said,
Was nothin' but a lie.
-=*=-
But they forgot a single thing,
In sendin' me back here.
In peace I ain't much of a man,
But killin' I hold dear.
-=*=-
So, come the mornin', I'll go in,
And shoot that Yankee dead.
So all the rest who came back home,
Can put this war to bed.

--==*==--