Dying Soldier to His Mother, The

DESCRIPTION: "On the field of battle, mother, All the night alone I lay; Angels watching o'er me, mother, Till the breaking of the day." The soldier thinks of his mother, sends farewells to family, wishes he could repay mother, and bids farewell
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas MacKellar/Music: William U. Butcher
EARLIEST DATE: 1863 (Dime Songster #11)
KEYWORDS: battle death soldier mother
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 228, "The Dying Soldier to His Mother" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 208, "The Dying Soldier to His Mother" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands, pp. 108-109, "The Dying Soldier" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #551, pp. 36-37, "The Dying Soldier to His Mother" (6 references)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 227 (no title) (1 short text)
Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 159, "The Dying Soldier to His Mother" (reproduction of a broadside page)
ST BrII228 (Partial)
Roud #6568
ALTERNATE TITLES:
On the Field of Battle, Mother
File: BrII228

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography