Hip hip hooray we are marching on to Richmond
You'll see us come with the Stars and Stripes held high
Hip hip hooray we are marching on to Richmond
Jeff Davis better slip away tonight
It was a rousing melody of momentum for an ending to the war, but I was still at the beginning of my journey, so knew little about what went into the fall of Richmond and the aftermath. Just couldn't write the verses, so that is where the writing stopped. Last [Saturday] night, almost exactly a year later, among 20 songwriters after a day of songwriting at the Philadelphia Area Songwriting Alliance (PASA) winter Songworks I wrote 4 verses in 15 minutes, distilling some of the most vivid elements of this dramatic fall of the Confederate capital.
In some ways I felt my own triumph at being able to fashion from what I had learned 4 succinct verses that invoke the horror, the release, some humor, and finally the bravado that only the eventual victor can have. It was a release for me to write without apology a Union victory song.
Perhaps it is fitting that the verses were written at this time-one week before the anniversary date, and as it happens, one week before the Festival of Freedom, the Passover seder.
To listen, go to: Marching on to Richmond
Chorus
Hip hip hooray
We are marching on to Richmond
You’ll see us come
with the Stars and Stripes held high
Hip hip hooray
We are marching on to Richmond
These last 4 bloody years,
was all that we could bear
We’ve circled round this capital
And now we’re finally here
Hip hip hooray
We are marching on to Richmond
You’ll see us come
with the Stars and Stripes held high
Hip hip hooray
We are marching on to Richmond
General U S Grant
Came here from the west
He’ll take us on to victory
With cigar in hand
Chorus
We see the city burning
We see the city burning
[Tredagar] Iron works ablaze
It’s time we took charge of things
Now we’ve got them on the chase
Chorus
Sherman’s marching north
Sherman’s marching north
After Johnston’s tale
Lee’s army of Virginia.
Let’s throw them all
in jail!
