Bob Lee

Old Jeff Davis never wanted to give in they say,

Until the day when General Bob Lee gave up,

They took ole Bob at this Courthouse place in the early Spring of 1865,

But Jeff still thought he mighta had a chance,

Him and all his ole Confederates,

To make a ride past them Northern men and scare the daylights out of all rest,

But them Union boys,

They had roaring cannons fit from a northern forge up the road a bit,

Plus stubborn ships called iron sides,

And the freedmen who came to fight them Rebs,

The same boys they’d know’d when they was young,

So they blinked and twitched ‘til their eyes got red,

“Where did Marcellus get that sword,

And Old Joe find his musket loads,”

One Johnny Reb said ‘fore he fell,

For those Black boys were armed like men by now,

And they fought like their lives was sacred to God,

To themselves and the Lord and all da rest,

But ole Bob Lee he was just sorely whipped at last,

On a Courthouse steps near Appomatt’s,

Now they claim Bob Lee lived one day,

When Abraham Lincoln was carried away,

But we know this too sure as you sitting down,

That old Bob Lee knew all them slaves was gone.

-Albert Turner Goins, Sr.