Well, I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
Well, I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before
Courageous at first we took their worst, our positions we held stout
We clung to belief and we hung on the
Speech from our trusted leaders mouths
Overwhelming odds and a hopeless cause and our cities overrun
There were them that said we was badly led and God were we outgunned
Well, I lost count of the worthy mounts that from under me were cut
My favourite mare with her head in the air took the cannon in her gut
In the first two weeks on that bloody creek my brother lost his arm
Was only sixty days till all we prayed was to get us home unharmed
O for the day that we signed our
Names and the well that we were wished
The mens congrats and the pats on
The backs and the ladies that we kissed
The band that played, and the grand parade, and the patriotic shouts
They faded fast didn't even last till the uniforms wore out
And there were none to replace nor to
Help us face the winters cold and bleak
The chill to the bone and the
Pnuemonia prone and froze our bootless feet
Then the typhoid hit with its fevered fits, TB and dysentery
That proved in the end to have killed more men than the vilest enemy
We were finally forced to feed on horse and carcass we could scrounge
When the wagons stopped and we'd burnt
Their crops to charred and barren ground
With morale in doubt and our pride run out no honour did I see
All I seen were a thousand dreams piled dead in front of me
Well, I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
Well, I wanna be in the cavalry but I won't ride home no more