A decision to join the Civil War, 1862
music by Bernard Covert
A young man from Lyme, Connecticut, employed in New York, wrote to his mother for permission to enlist. He joined the Signal Corps in the Tenth Connecticut Regiment, with General Burnside’s Expedition. A friend in New York beautifully put his request into verse.
Accompaniment by Benjamin R. Tubb:
Lyrics
- I am writing to you mother, knowing well what you will say
When you read with tearful fondness what I write to you today
Knowing well the flame of ardor on a loyal mother’s part
That will kindle with each impulse, with each throbbing of your heart
I have heard my country calling for her sons that still are true
I have loved that country, mother, only next to God and you
And my soul is springing forward to resist her bitter foe
Can I go, my dearest mother? tell me, mother, can I go? - From the battered walls of Sumter, from the wild waves of the sea
I have heard her cry for succor, as the voice of God to me
In prosperity I loved her in her days of dark distress
With your spirit in me, mother, could I love that country less?
They have pierced her heart with treason
They have caused her sons to bleed
They have robbed her in her kindness
They have triumphed in her need
They have trampled on her standard, and she calls me in her woe
Can I go, my dearest mother? tell me mother, can I go? - I am young and slender, mother, they would call me yet a boy
But I know the land I live in, and the blessings I enjoy
I am old enough, my mother, to be loyal, proud, and true
To be faithful to my country I have ever learned from you
We must conquer this rebellion, let the doubting heart be still
We must conquer it or perish, we must conquer, and we will!
But the faithful must not falter, and shall I be wanting? No!
Bid me go, my dearest mother! tell me mother, can I go? - He who led his chosen people, in their efforts to be free
From the tyranny of Egypt, will be merciful to me
Will protect me by His power, whatso’er I undertake
Will return me home in safety, dearest mother, for your sake
Or should this, my bleeding country, need a victim such as me
I am nothing more than others who have perished to be free
On her bosom let me slumber, on her altar let me die
I am not afraid, my mother, in so good a cause to die - There will come a day of gladness, when the people of the Lord
Shall look proudly on their banner, which His mercy has restored
When the stars in perfect number, on their azure field of blue
Shall be clustered in a Union, then and ever firm and true
I may live to see it, mother, when the patriot’s work is done
And your heart so full of kindness, will beat proudly for your son
Or through tears your eyes may see it with a sadly thoughtful view
And may love still more dearly, for the cost it won from you - I have written to you, mother, with a consciousness of right
I am thinking of you fondly, with a loyal heart to-night
When I have your noble bidding, which shall tell me to press on
I will come and kiss you, mother, come and kiss you, and be gone
In the sacred name of Freedom, and my country as her due
In the name Law and Justice, I have written this to you
I am eager, anxious, longing to resist my country’s foe
Shall I go, my dearest mother? tell me, mother, shall I go?
Sung here by Fred Feild: