The Valiant Soldiers

WE are the valiant soldiers who've 'listed for the war;We are fighting for the Union, we are fighting for the law;We can shoot a rebel farther than a white man ever saw,As we go marching on.

Chorus.--Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah, as we go marching on.

Look there above the center, where the flag is waving bright;We are going out of slavery, we are bound for freedom's light;We mean to show Jeff Davis how the Africans can fight,As we go marching on.--Chorus.

We are done with hoeing cotton, we are done with hoeing corn;We are colored Yankee soldiers as sure as you are born.When massa hears us shouting, he will think 'tis Gabriel's horn,As we go marching on.--Chorus.

They will have to pay us wages, the wages of their sin;They will have to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin;They will have to give us house-room, or the roof will tumble in,As we go marching on.--Chorus.

We hear the proclamation, massa, hush it as you will;The birds will sing it to us, hopping on the cotton hill;The possum up the gum tree couldn't keep it still,As he went climbing on.--Chorus.

Father Abraham has spoken, and the message has been sent;The prison doors have opened, and out the prisoners wentTo join the sable army of African descent,As we go marching on.--Chorus.