The Unknown Bugle Boy Of Cemetery Hill

Ruth Roberts        William Katz

There’s a battlefield at Gettysburg where swords and sabers rust
And brothers who were flesh and blood are scattered in the dust.
But every night at Gettysburg when everything is still,
They say a golden bugle blows on Cemetery Hill.
Who was the unknown Bugle Boy at Gettysburg that day?
And was he wearing Yankee Blue, or wearing Southern Gray?

Did he sound the call for General Meade thru all the shot and shell?
Or did he blow for Pickett’s charge and blow retreat as well.
And did he hear the mournful cry of thousands of young men
Who came with hopes and high ideals and never left again?
Who was that unknown Bugle Boy at Gettysburg that day?
And was he brave in Yankee Blue, or brave in Southern Gray?

Of the lad who was Bugle Boy nothing could be found
Except a golden bugle lying silent on the ground.
But every night at Gettysburg when everything is still,
You’ll hear the golden bugle blow on Cemetery Hill.
Why did he die in Yankee Blue, or die in Southern Gray?

“That government of the people, by the people, and for the people
shall not perish from the earth.”