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The Dying Sergeant 
The Dying Sergeant 
Come all you heroes, where'er you be, That walk by land or sail by sea, Come hear the words of a dying man And surely you'll remember them. 
In '76 that fatal year As by our signal doth appear Our fleet set sail for America Twas on the fourteenth day of May. 
Twas a dark and dismal time Our fleet set sail for the northern line Where drums did beat and the trumpet sound And into Boston we are bound 
And when to Boston we did come We thought the noise of the British drum Would drive the rebels from that place And fill their hearts with sore distress 
But to our woeful, sad surprise We saw them like grasshoppers rise To fight like heroes much in rage-Which sorely frightened General Gage. 
Like lions roaring for their prey They fear no danger, no not they True British blood runs in their veins While them with courage it sustains. 
We sailed to York, as you've been told, With the loss of many a Briton bold, And there we many a traitor found False to the land where he belonged. 
They told us 'twas a garden place And that our armies might with ease Burn down their towns, lay waste their lands In spite of all their boasting bands. 
A garden place it was indeed 
And in it grew many a bitter weed Which did pull down our brightest hopes And sorely wounded our British troops. 
'Tis now December, the seventeenth day, Since we set sail for America, Full fifteen thousand have been slain-Bold British heroes on the plain. 
Now I've received my mortal wound. Adieu unto old English ground. My wife and children they'll mourn for me While I lie cold in America. 
Fight on, fight on, American boys, But ne'er heed bold Britain's thundering noise. Maintain your rights, years after year. God's on your side, you need not fear. 
The glory of Great Britain's soil Is now eclipsed for a while But it shall shine bright in meridian year Although our king is most severe. 
His crown shall fade most certainly A reward for all his cruelty America shall her rights maintain While proud cold England sinks with shame. 
From The New Green Mountain Songster, Flanders et al Collected from Ellen Nye Lawrence oct96