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 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 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
And Johnston proved a deuce of a bother
And 'twas clear beyond a doubt that he didn't like the route
And the second time would have to try another
Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve
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
Next came the Wooly-Horse, with an overwhelming force
To march down to Richmond by the Valley
But he couldn't find the road, and his "onward movement" showed
His campaigning was a mere shilly-shally
Then Commissary Banks, with his motley foreign ranks
Kicking up a great noise, a-fuss and flurry
Lost the whole of his supplies, and with tears in his eyes
From the Stonewall ran away in a hurry
Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve
The Valley is a hard road to travel
The Valley wouldn't do and we all had to leave
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe
Then McClellan followed soon, with both spade and balloon
To try the Peninsular approaches
But one and all agreed that his best rate of speed
Was no faster than the slowest of slow coaches
Instead of easy ground, at Williamsburg he found
A Longstreet indeed, and nothing shorter
And it put him in the dumps, that spades wasn't trumps
And the Hills he couldn't level as ordered
Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve
For a Longstreet is a hard road to travel
Lay down the shovel and throw away the spade
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I'm afraid
Then Lincoln said to 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 line of retreat
And issue a famous proclamation"
But that same dreaded Jackson, this fellow laid his whacks-on
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
For the 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
Last of all the brave Burnside, with his pontoon bridges, tried
A road no one had thought of before him
With two hundred thousand men for the Rebel slaughter pen
And the blessed Union flag waving o'er him
But he met a fire like hell, of canister and shell
That mowed down his men with great slaughter
'Twas a shocking sight to view, that second Waterloo
And the river ran with more blood than with water
Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve
Rappahannock is a hard road to travel
Burnside got in a trap, which caused him for to grieve
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe
Now 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 burn it to the ground
And plunder and hang each cursed Rebel
Yet the contraband was right when he told us they would fight
"Oh, yes, massa, they will 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
Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe