pray for me my darling
that peace might come to pass
the devil finally laid to rest
the carnage done at last
we may have left at seventeen
before boys are men
but the ladies they will all turn out
when we come home again

we were locked in hell in andersonville
in shebangs hot and stinking
the stream we use as our latrine
gives water for our drinking
and a hundred of us daily die
to fill those fresh-dug graves
ah but the ladies they will all turn out
when we come home again

rumors spawn and rumors die
on the rocks of the georgia sun
and hope is just a luxury
you learn not to count on
oh hannah may you never see
the sights that i have seen
nor the ladies who will all turn out
if we come home again

so i watch the strong and fearless
reduced and disgraced
each day the heart of twisted man
stares me in the face
so i pray for death to take me
just like it did my friends
the ladies they will all turn out
when the coffins are brought in

at night i say my prayers
and then i hold you to my breast
and i'm reading through the testament
you gave me for last christmas
i swear i heard the children laugh
or was it angels on the plains
or the ladies had they all turned out
'cause we came home again