"Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" was a popular song during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. A particular favorite of enlisted men in the Union army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

, it was written in 1863 by Walter Kittredge

Walter Kittredge

Walter Kittredge , was a famous musician during the American Civil War.Born in Merrimack, New Hampshire, the tenth of eleven children, Kittredge was a talented self-taught musician who played the seraphine, the melodeon , and the violin. Kittredge toured solo and with the Hutchinson Family, a...

 and first performed in that year at Old High Rock, Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...

.

Charles Ives

Charles Ives

Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...

 later quoted the song in his own political song, "They Are There," changing the lyrics to "Tenting on a new campground"—referring to a worldwide social democracy

Social democracy

Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

.

Lyrics

Lyrics from the original sheet music:

We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground,

Give us a song to cheer

Our weary hearts, a song of home

And friends we love so dear.

Chorus:

Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,

Wishing for the war to cease;

Many are the hearts looking for the right

To see the dawn of peace.

Tenting tonight, tenting tonight,

Tenting on the old camp ground.

We've been tenting tonight on the old camp-ground,

Thinking of days gone by,

Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand,

And the tear that said, "Good-bye!"

Chorus

The lone wife kneels and prays with a sigh

That God his watch will keep

O'er the dear one away and the little dears nigh,

In the trundle bed fast asleep.

Chorus

We are tenting tonight on the old camp ground.

The fires are flickering low.

Still are the sleepers that lie around,

As the sentinels come and go.

Chorus

Alas for those comrades of days gone by

Whose forms are missed tonight.

Alas for the young and true who lie

Where the battle flag braved the fight.

Chorus

No more on march or field of strife

Shall they lie so tired and worn,

No rouse again to hope and life

When the sound of drums beat at morn.

Chorus

We are tired of war on the old camp ground,

Many are dead and gone,

Of the brave and true who've left their homes,

Others been wounded long.

Chorus

We've been fighting today on the old camp ground,

Many are lying near;

Some are dead, and some are dying,

Many are in tears.

Final Chorus:

Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,

Wishing for the war to cease;

Many are the hearts looking for the right,

To see the dawn of peace.

Dying tonight, dying tonight,

Dying on the old camp ground

External links

• "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground", Peerless Quartet
  Peerless Quartet
  The Peerless Quartet, , was a vocal group from the acoustic era . It was organised in 1904 as the Columbia Quartet. It remained active until 1928 and had many changes of personnel during that time, the one constant being Henry Burr...
  
  (U.S. Everlasting 1079, 1909)—Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project.
• "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Sheet Music), Oldroyd, Osbourne H. The Good Old Songs We Used to Sing, '61 to '65, —Project Gutenberg.
• MIDI for "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground", from Project Gutenberg.