REBEL'S LAST REQUEST
(Carl Jackson)
Bluegrass Cardinals


eighteen sixty-three was an awful place to be
I never thought I'd make it out alive
But a dying man's request
Helped me pass the rugged test
And see the end to eighteen sixty-five

He called me to his side and just before he died
This Rebel soldier made it clear to me
That his one last desire
Before his soul it did retire
Was to return home and there forever be

Chorus
Take me back to the southland
Mississippi is my home
Let me rest with those green fields above me
Never more shal I roam

So I dug a shallow grave marked the spot where he was layed
By a nearby lonesome weeping willow tree
And in case I lost my knife
Or another took my life
I carved those final words he said to me

Chorus

Eighteen Sixty-Five and I made it out alive
So I returned to fill his final plea
But I found no body there
Just a feeling in the air
And a change of words upon the willow tree

(Final Chorus)

He's gone back to the Southland
Mississippi is his home
He now rests with those green fields above him
Never more shall he roam



(Transcribed by Steve Gilmore - March 2003)