The Good Old Rebel

1st Nation Confederate Flag

The end of the War brought the miseries of Reconstruction to the South. As burdensome as the struggle to adapt to life in the newly reconstituted Union was for most Southerners, it was a near impossibility for many an ex-Confederate soldier. The sentiments expressed in this classic post-war song were probably fairly typical among embittered veterans.

The song was sung to the old Irish tune "Joe Bowers."

O I'm a good old rebel, Now that's just what I am,

A for this Yankee nation, I do not give a damn'

I'm glad I fought against her, I only wish we'd won,

And I don't wish any pardon, for anything I've done...

I hate this Yankee nation, And everything they've do,

I hate the Declaration, Of Independence too,

I hate the glorious Union, 'Tis dripping with our blood,

And I hate the striped banner, And fit it all I could...

I rode with Robert E. Lee, For three years, near about,

Got wounded in three places, And starved at Point Lookout,

I cought the rheumatism, A camping in the snow,

But I killed my share of Yankees, and I wish we killed some more....

Three hundred thousand Yankees, Lie stiff in Southern dust,

We got three hundred thousand, Before they conquered us,

They died of Southern fever, And Southern steel and shot,

And I wish it was three million, Instead of what we got....

I can't take up my musket, And fight 'em now no more,

But I ain't gonna love 'em, Now that is sartin sho,

And I don't want no pardon, For what I was and am,

And I won't be reconstructed, And I do not give a damn...