April Sixty-five

They took Bob Lee at the Courthouse steps on a day in April sixty-five,

But they say Jeff Davis would never give a lick,

Until Bob Lee sat on those Courthouse steps,

That’s the final day when them Rebels’ give in,

Ole Jeff he still thought he had a chance,

To win with those Confederates,

To ride and scare them Union boys,

With that Rebel yell and a big white horse,

But those freedmen fought,

to show to young Johnny Reb,

Things they’d knowed since they was all kids,

So the colored troops made ‘em blink and twitch,

Till the Rebs fell still,

and thinking this,

“Where’d my Marcellus get that blunderbuss,

And Big Tall Joe that long bayonet?”

That’s how Johnny Reb took the fight,

‘Cause those Black boys they fought like their whole lives,

Was given in sacrifice,

To themselves and the Lord,

And the Union cause,

Until old Appomattox came.

So then General Lee knew he was bound to be whipped,

So he rode his white horse to these Appomattox steps,

But they claim General Lee was still alive,

On the day Mister Lincoln laid down to die,

But sure as you sitting here on my aching knee,

Bob Lee had to watch all them slaves go free,

Bob Lee sat and watched all his slaves go free.

-Albert Turner Goins, Sr.