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 went To join the sable army of African descent, As we go marching on.--Chorus.