Jefferson County's Soldiers - a Poem

WOODS, STEVER

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 5/2/2006 at 21:40:21

From the Prill Transcriptions ~~

THEY WALKED A LITTLE STRAIGHTER

... The war was just a picnic
Of which everyone made light,
But, after the battle of Shiloh
They decided it was a fight.

Seventeen hundred boys and men
Went forth from Jefferson County
And not a single one enlisted
To collect the Federal Bounty.

Rebels in Missouri
Firing across the river,
Casued the citizens of Fairfield
To sometimes shake and shiver.

But, Keosauqua was never captured
And the rebels never came.
Causing a commotion
Was part of their waiting game.

Jefferson County's real hero
The one who delivered the goods,
Was an intrepid female
Known as Auntie WOODS.

Wherever there was fighting
Or a single boy in blue,
Auntie WOODS and her wagon train
Made a point of getting through....

The men came home from the war
And put away their swords and gun,
They always walked a little straighter
Because of the things they'd done.

They staged the dangest celebration
Ever held since the town was born,
After which the soldiers
Went back to plowing corn.

William STEVER
November 27, 1962

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.