Page:Printed song lyrics- "Let The Banner Proudly Wave," 1861-1865.jpg



Our glorious flag is floating

Triumphantly at last;

Our nation is exulting,

The rebel's die is cast;

Rebellion now is conquered,

No more to lift its head,

And best of all we now can sing,

Old Slavery is dead.

—Let it wave, let it wave!

Let the banner proudly wave;

Let it wave, let it wave!

But never o'er a slave.

We are a happy nation,

Because our country's free

From war and desolation,

And from bold tyranny.

The tyrant's arm is broken,

No more to hold a slave;

This is the year of jubilee,

So let our banner wave.

—Let it wave, &c.

We've stood and fought like demons

Upon the battle field;

Both slaves and Northern freemen

Have faced the glowing steel—

Our blood beneath this banner

Has mingled with the whites,

And 'neath its folds we now demand

Our just and equal rights.

—Let it wave, &c.

The world has seen our valor,

And nations now confess

That man is not in color—

In fashion nor in dress;

In Charleston and old Richmond,

In spite of Lee and Bragg,

We drove the Rebs in wild dismay,

And planted there our flag.

—Let it wave, &c.

Port Hudson and Fort Pillow,

And Wagner's rugged crag,

Where many a colored soldier

Was murdered for this flag;

And Petersburg—Oulusta—

And Nashville, all can tell,

Who were the boys that stood in front,

And for this banner fell.

—Let it wave, &c.

We've fed the Union soldiers

When fleeing from the foe;

We've led them through the mountains

Where white men dare not go;

Our "hoecake" and our cabbage

And pork we freely gave,

That this old flag might be sustained—

Now let it proudly wave.

—Let it wave, &c.

We've fought like men and brethren.

And we defy the world

To say we ever faltered,

Beneath this flag unfurled;

Our guns have broke our fetters,

And justice now demands

That we shall never more be slaves,

With muskets in our hands.

—Let it wave, let it wave!

Let the banner proudly wave;

Let it wave, let it wave!

But never o'er a slave.