Grafted Into the Army

public domain

Lyrics

(Henry C. Work, 1832-1884)

Our Jimmy has gone for to live in a tent,
They have grafted him into the Army,
He finally puckered up courage and went,
When they grafted him into the Army.
I told them the child was too young, alas!
At the captain’s forequarters, they said he would pass,
They’d train him up well in the Infantry class,
So they grafted him into the Army.

Refrain
Oh, Jimmy, farewell!
Your brothers fell way down in Alabammy,
I thought they would spare a lone widder’s heir,
But they grafted him into the Army.

Dressed up in his unicorn, dear little chap,
They have grafted him into the Army,
It seems but a day since he sat in my lap,
But they grafted him into the Army.
And these are the trousies he used to wear,
Them very same buttons, the patch and the tear,
But Uncle Sam gave him a brand new pair
When they grafted him into the Army. Refrain

Now in my provisions I see him revealed,
They have grafted him into the Army;
A picket beside the contented field,
They have grafted him into the Army.
He looks kinder sickish — begins to cry,
A big volunteer standing right in his eye!
Oh, what if the ducky should up and die,
Now they’ve grafted him into the Army. Refrain