Would you like to hear my song, I'm afraid it's rather long
Of the famous "Road to Richmond" double trouble,
Of the half of doesn't trip,
Sound the half of doesn't slip,
And the very latest bursting out the buble,
It is mighty hard to sing
And like a rolling ring
'Tis a dreadful knotty puzzle to unravel.
Though all the papers swore, when we reached Virginia's shore,
That Richmond was a hard road to travel.
So pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel.
Yes, pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe!
Then Lincoln said to Pope, "You can make the trip, I hope
And 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 on
And made him, by compulsion, a seceder,
And Pope took rapid flight in the middle of the night,
'Twas his very last appearance as a leader.
So pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel.
Yes, pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe!
Last of all the Burnside, with his pontoon bridges, tried
A road no one had thought of before him.
With two hundred thousand men for the Rebel slaughterpen
And the blessed Union flag waving o 'er him.
He met a fire like hell, of canister and shell,
That mowed down his men with great slaughter,
'Twoas a shocking sight to view, that second Waterloo,
And the river ran more blood than water.
So pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel.
Yes, pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe!
We are very much perplexed to see who is the next
To command the next Richmond expedition,
For the Capital must blaze, and all in ninety days,
And Jeff and his men be sent to perdition.
And when we take the town, we will surely burn it down,
And plunder and hang up each Rebel.
For the contraband was right when he told us they would fight,
"Those rebels, they would fight like the devil!"
So pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel.
Yes pull off your greatcoat, roll up your sleeves,
Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe!