[Verse 1]
Riding hard through the pine and clay
Louisiana sun fades into gray
Vernon Parish whispers
“Don’t go away”
But the bugles called
And he had to obey
[Verse 2]
Dust kicked high in the southern sun
Horse’s breath like a loaded gun
Vernon Parish fades behind his back
Dreams of glory on a winding track
[Chorus]
Riding to Gettysburg
Dreams in his eyes
The stars whisper songs
The moon softly sighs
Riding to Gettysburg
Where fate will collide
[Verse 3]
The cannons roared like a thunderous hymn
His musket shook in his trembling limbs
The fields turned red
The flags went pale
A Dixie boy on a Yankee trail
[Verse 4]
The battle raged
The earth turned red
A thousand prayers
for the living and dead
He fell to the ground
From sorrows ledd
[Refrain]
But through the smoke
A shadow appeared
A voice so soft
His pain disappeared
[Chorus]
Riding to Gettysburg
Dreams in his eyes
The stars whisper songs
The moon softly sighs
Riding to Gettysburg
Where fate will collide
[Verse 5]
Then she knelt
Her hands so small
Binding his wounds
Ignoring the call
She said
“Don’t you fade
Don’t you go”
Speak to me and do not slow.
[Bridge]
She wore the blue
He bled the gray
Yet love found its way through the bloody fray
A rebel heart
A Yankee hand
They felt a love they could never part,
But a love the Union would surely band
While love may be blind,
There was only one thing war could see,
A rebel soul in enemy’s company
[Prechorus]
She risked her life
And took him home
And nursed him back
Where he belonged
[Chorus]
Riding to Gettysburg
Dreams in his eyes
The stars whisper songs
The moon softly sighs
Riding to Gettysburg
Where fate will collide
[Outro]
Her voice was soft and tender
His fever was warm as a cinder
Each day he felt even stronger
But knew the risk if he stayed much longer
They left her home in the dead of night
He took her South and rejoined the fight.
[Fade out with gunfire, cannon shots, bugles, guitars and fiddles]
Copyright November 11, 2025, by Stephen Craig Whitley – All Rights Reserved
