Richmond is a Hard Road - Ballad of the Civil War

Hear “Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel” a comedic song telling the tale of the first years of the American Civil War, and the many Union defeats. Below is a quote from Joe Ewers of the 2nd South Carolina String band, to explain the song’s setting...

“The song/poem was written and published in the aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg and prior to the assignment of 'Fighting Joe Hooker' to the command of the Army of the Potomac. Previously, the Lincoln admin had pressured each commander to capture Richmond as quickly as possible (90 days) while at the same time protecting Washington DC, leaving not enough troops to do both.”

If you would like to read more about the songs origins and hear an explanation for the complex first verse of the song, below is a quote from Tom DiGiuseppe researcher of the 2nd South Carolina String Band...

“Richmond Is A Hard Road To Travel” is a parody of the 1853 Dan Emmett song “Jordan Is A Hard Road To Travel.” The parody was written in 1863 by the editor of the “Southern Literary Messenger” of Richmond, VA, John Thompson. This song was especially popular with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Thompson wrote the lyrics as if he were a Yankee reviewing the six initial attempts to take the Confederate capital and why nothing was working. The first verse sets up the song’s message.

Would you like to hear my song
I’m afraid it’s rather long
On the famous on to Richmond double trouble
Of the half a dozen trips and the half a dozen slips
To the latest bursting of the bubble

This sets up what has happened. The rest of the verse tries to figure out why.

It’s pretty hard to sing, (It’s difficult to talk about)
And like a round, round, ring (We always start in Washington and always return)
It’s a dreadful naughty puzzle to unravel (No matter how hard we try we can’t
figure how to capture Richmond)
Though all the papers swore (Do we trust the newspapers?)
when we touched Virginia’s shore (How do they know?)
That Richmond was a hard road to travel (Who’s side are they on?)”

- I hope that you all enjoyed reading about the songs origins, and complicated lyrics! These quotes were gathered from personal interviews, via online messaging. Thank you all for 8,000 subscribers, and for showing that 10,000 subscribers will not be a hard road to travel. 😉 -

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