Lyrics

Would you like to hear my song? I'm afraid it's rather long Of the famous "On to Richmond" double trouble Of the half-a-dozen trips and a half-a-dozen slips And the very latest bursting of the bubble 'Tis pretty hard to sing and like a round, round ring 'Tis a dreadful knotty puzzle to unravel Though all the papers swore, when we touched Virginia's shore That Richmond was a hard road to travel Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve Richmond is a hard road to travel Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe First, McDowell, bold and gay, set forth the shortest way By Manassas in the pleasant summer weather But unfortunately ran on a Stonewall, foolish man And had a rocky journey altogether And he found it rather hard to ride o'er Beauregard Johnston proved a deuce of a bother And 'twas clear beyond a doubt that he didn't like the route And a second time would have to try another Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve For Manassas is a hard road to travel Manassas gave us fits, and Bull Run made us grieve For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe And then the great Galena came, with her portholes all aflame And the Monitor, that famous naval wonder But the guns at Drewry's Bluff gave them speedily enough The loudest sort of reg'lar Rebel thunder The Galena was astonished and the Monitor admonished Our patent shot and shell were mocked at While the dreadful Naugatuck, by the hardest kind of luck Was knocked into an ugly cocked hat Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve For James River is a hard road to travel The gun-boats gave it up in terror and despair For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I declare Then said Lincoln unto Pope "You can make the trip, I hope I will save the universal Yankee nation To make sure of no defeat, I'll leave no lines of retreat And issue a famous proclamation." But that same dreaded Jackson, this fellow laid his whacks And made him, by compulsion, a seceder And Pope took rapid flight from Manassas' second fight 'Twas his very last appearance as a leader Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve Stonewall is a hard road to travel Pope did his very best, but was evidently sold For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I am told We are very much perplexed to know who is the next To command the new Richmond expedition For the Capital must blaze, and that in ninety days And Jeff and his men be sent to perdition We'll take the cursed town, and then we'll burn it down Plunder and hang up each cursed Rebel Yet the contraband was right when he told us they would fight "Oh yes, massa, they fight like the devil" Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve For Richmond is a hard road to travel Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe