A truly wonderful manuscript Civil War song composed and written down on Morris Island South Carolina in the month of Sept., 1864 by Private Phineas Leach, Co. B, 9th Maine Infantry Regiment. This song, which to my knowledge is unpublished is written in ink on a folded double letter sheet with ‘Congress’ stationary blind-stamp in upper left corner and has title at top of first page in wonderful Spenserian calligraphy with 12 four line stanzas of manuscript text, plus chorus. The song reads as follows: ‘9th Me. Veterans. Hurrah! Veteran volunteers come rally with a shout/And let Father Abram know what we are about/We’ll show him the 9th Maine with loyal courage can/Raise a veteran corps as well as any other man/Chorus: We,r going home are going home for Abram thinks it best/We should leave the rebel kingdom and take a little rest/And after we recruited we’ll leap into the rank/And rally on the enemy reducing them by flank./It is now nearly three years we hardships have endured/And fought most gallantly where,er we where required/Now Father we are coming with threequarter and some more/To rally around your standard as we have done before/Chorus: We,r going home &c./We have faced the enemy in the bloody raging battle/Where bursting shell and cannon shot like many demons prattle/Sent down their iron hail which cut short the lives of many/The though creates within us the spirit of Patrick Henry/Chorus: We,r going home &c./There are many copperheads among our northern people/But we will let them know we are saucy able/To dry their clamour up and make them quiet stand/While we march by Yanke doodle through the rebel land/Chorus We,r going home &c./We are coming Father Abraham because you made the call/A regiment of veterans composed of nearly all/Who first enroled their names in the old 9th Maine/Now are comeing to the old pine tree again/Chorus: We,r going home &c./Just tell them we are loyal with courage bold and strong/That you give us a bounty of four hundred greenbacks long/And if they have another we freely will receive/Which would only do us justice we really do believe/Chorus We,r going home &c./Come on brother veteran, Abram says he is redy/To give us a corial welcome and meet us with his bounty/And a furlough grant of thirty days or more/And all the other extras he promast us before/Chorus We,r going home &c./So united we assemble and take each others hand/And bid a hearty farewell unto this pirate land/Hoping we shall never be called to retern again/To this Black and dreary Island exposed to cold and rain/Chorus We are going home &c./We will rally on our homes with pockets full of change/To meet our friends who perhaps will think it strange/That we have come so soon but we will tell them the reason why/We are bound to fight for Sam and see this rebellion die/Chorus: We,r going home &c./So we,ll spend these holidays allowed by Uncle Sam/With our wives and sweethearts as merry as we can/And when the times arrived for us to take the train/We will shoulder our mukits and back to war again/Chorus: We,r going home &c./Our health and strength recruited we have nothing to hinder/Us from rallying on the enemy compelling a surrender/We,ll see rebellion crushed and cecesh glad to make/Peace on any terms we propose to state/Chorus: We,r going home &c./And when this war is over we never more will roam/But will settle down contented in a quit home/And all of us who have not will each one take a wife/And happyness enjoy the remainder of this life/Chorus: We, r going home &c./By P. leach Co. B, 9th Maine’ This song tells many things about these soldiers, such as the somewhat typical poor spelling, common among them. Also their determination to see the rebels defeated and the Union restorer, but also the dark and black humor of men who have seen horrors beyond compare. I suspect that much of the misspelling by this soldier, is a part of that black humor, as he likely saw many of his fellow soldiers terrible spelling skills and is simply mimicking it here. The ‘Black Island’ mentioned in the song was Morris Island, near Charleston, S.C. Fort Sumter, Fort Wagner, Fort Gregg and other CSA forts guarding Charleston harbor. The 9th lost more men during the war than any other Maine regiment, and the fight to capture Fort Wagner was to last most of the war, not because of the poor performance of the Union forces, but simply because, Fort Wagner was beautifully designed to withstand almost anything the period could through at it.

Removed from album, with a couple of short tears on back, no losses.