All quiet along the Potomac tonight
Except here and there a stray picket
Is shot as he walks on his beat to and fro
By a rifleman hid in the thicket
'Tis nothing! A private or two now and then
Will not count in the news of the battle
Not an officer lost, only one of the men
Moaning out all alone a death rattle
All quiet along the Potomac tonight
All quiet along the Potomac tonight
Where the soldiers lie peacefully dreaming
And their tents in the rays of the clear autumn moon
And the light of the campfires are gleaming
There's only the sound of the lone sentry's tread
As he tramps from the rock to the fountain
And thinks of the two on the low trundle bed
Far away, in the cot' on the mountain
All quiet along the Potomac tonight
His musket falls slack, his face dark and grim
Grows gentle with memories tender
As he mutters a prayer for the children asleep
And their mother, may heaven defend her
The moon seems to shine as brightly as then
That night, when the love yet unspoken
Leapt up to his lips, and when low murmured vows
Were pledged to be ever unbroken
All quiet along the Potomac tonight
Then drawing his sleeve roughly over his eyes
He dashes off the tears that are welling
And gathers his gun close up to his breast
As if to keep down the heart's swelling
He passes the fountain, the blasted pine tree
And his footstep is lagging and weary
Yet onward he goes, through the broad belt of light
Toward the shade of the forest so dreary
All quiet along the Potomac tonight
Hark! Was it the night wind that rustled the leaves?
Was it the moonlight so wondrously flashing?
It looked like a rifle, "Ha, Mary, goodbye!"
And his lifeblood is ebbing and plashing
All quiet along the Potomac tonight
No sound save the rush of the river
While soft falls the dew on the face of the dead
The picket's off duty forever!
All quiet along the Potomac tonight