A Civil War Song of the third regiment of
Wisconsin Infantry, Veteran Volunteers
First sung at Camp Pinkeyh, Maryland Heights, Md.
Before Gen. Chas. S. Hamilton and Staff, July 22, 1861
By Messrs. Kimberly, Bryant and other singers of the Regiment
Published by Col. E. O. Kimberly, “National” and
Departmental Grand Army Singer, Janesville, WIS., 1899.
Words by E. E. Bryant
Music by E. O. Kimberly
Arranged by J. S. Taylor
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Benjamin R. Tubb:
Lyrics
- We’re Hamilton’s Badger Boys, and hither we’ve come,
From woody Wisconsin our dearly loved home,
To fight for the Union, to conquer or die,
And to raise in the foe land our wild battle cry.
Chorus
March away, away, away, all hearts bounding high,
March away, away, away, all hearts bounding high,
For Hamilton’s Badger Boys will conquer or die.
For Hamilton’s Badger Boys must conquer or die.
- We’ve left our loved kindred in far prairie land,
And come forth to battle, a strong hearted band,
We could never remain in our homes afar,
When honor and country called us to war. - Our Governor equipped us and told us to go
And flail out the Union’s most treacherous foe,
To pound them right hard on God’s threshing floor,[1]
And not to return ’till rebellion was o’er. - Brave Hamilton commanding our stern ranks of gray[2]
We were all sworn to follow where he leads the way,
He’s the man not to quail when war’s cannon roar,
For he has won glory in battle before.[3] - And when we are marshalled in battle array,
And gallantly led where fiercest the fray,
Then we’ll on to the charge, all hearts bounding high,
For the Boys of Wisconsin must conquer or die
Notes:
[1]. Governor Randall, in his speech to the Regiment at Camp
Hamilton, Fond du Lac, said that “On God’s threshing floor of
battle, you must flail rebellion for its sins.”
[2]. The State uniform which the Regiment wore in the field
was gray flannel.
[3]. He was an officer in the Mexican war.