Johnny Cash – God Bless Robert E. Lee lyrics

When Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis was upset about it
He said, "How dare that man resent an order
Form the President of the Confederate States of America"

Then somebody told him that
General Lee had made the decision himself
In order to save lives because he felt that the battle comin' up
Would cost about twenty thousand lives on both sides

And he said two hundred forty thousand dead already is enough
So this song is not about the north or the south
But about the bloody brother war
Brother against brother, father against son, the war that nobody won

And for all those lives that were saved
I gotta say God bless Robert E. Lee
Well, the mansion where the General used to live is burning down
Cotton fields are blue with Sherman's troops

I overheard a Yankee say yesterday Nashville fell
So I'm on my way to join the fight General Lee might need my help
But look away, look away, Dixie, I don't want them to see
What they're doing to my Dixie, God bless Robert E. Lee

Sherman's troops burned Atlanta and the flames lit up the sky
And those of us who survived it are watchin' my Dixie die
But today at Appomattox General Lee sat down
And surrendered to the Yankees and Ulysses S Grant

So look away, look away Dixie
I won't ever stop loving you, my Dixie, till they put me in the ground
And the last words they probably
Hear from me are God bless Robert E. Lee