​                    The Irish Battalion lyrics And chords

The song was recorded by David Kincaid, who sings quiet a lot of American patriotic songs and it speaks of the Confederate 1st Battalion Virginia Volunteer Infantry, which was ofttimes nicknamed "The Irish Battalion" as it was almost entirely made up of Irishmen. The unit fought bravely throughout the Civil War with General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It was but one of numerous Irish units on both sides of the war to show that the Irish were willing to defend their adopted homes with their lives, whether it be the South or the North. They also hoped that one day their adopted home would help them free their ancestral one. 

(The chords as seen in the first verse are repeated in the same pattern throughout). Chords by Robert Morrow

[Am] When old Virginia took the field and [C] wanted [Em] men to [G] rally on,
[Am] To be at once a [C] sword and [Em] shield,
She [G] formed her [Em] First [Am] Battalion.
[G] Although her sons were volunteers,
And [C] brave as ever [G] bore a [Em] brand,
The [Am] good old lady [C] had her [Em] fears,
that [G] they'd prove but [Em] weak of [Am] hand

She therefore wisely cast about 
For men of mettle and of mould, 
With nerve of steel and muscle stout, 
Like those that lived in days of old. 
She wanted men of pluck and might, 
Of fiery heart and horny hand, 
To wield a pick as well as fight, 
Or build a breastwork out of sand. 


Or should she march to meet the foe 
That threatened on her western border, 
She wanted willing men to go, 
When told to put her roads in order. 
Or should the Volunteers retreat, 
With baggage that might make them tarry, 
'Twould blunt the edge of their defeat 
To bear a hand and help them carry. 

Or should some die of fell disease, 
The surgeons having failed to save, 
Sure men who work with so much ease, 
Would volunteer to dig a grave! 
For these, and reasons quite as sound, 
When Old Virginia went to war, 
She circumspectly viewed the ground 
And plumped the middle man from taw! 

In other words, to change the figure, 
When she stood up and took her rifle, 
And put her finger on the trigger, 
She meant to work, and not to trifle. 
And standing thus, yet wanting then 
Some regulars to rally on,
She took three hundred Irishmen 
And formed her First Battalion. 

And when the storm of battle sweeps, 
Where fiercest foemen sally on, 
There, hard at work, or piled in heaps, 
She'll find her bold Battalion!

American Folk And Patriotic Song Lyrics And Chords