Civil War Rap

As a long-term sub in 5th Grade at Calvin Christian School, little time is left for blogging. How do you get 43 fifth graders to learn the major battles of the Civil War? Now, I've never been much of a rapper, but maybe this will help:

The Civil War Rap


Chorus:

Huzzah! Huzzah! Gather up the troops
Blue and gray are the different groups
Brother to brother and state to state
It’s the Civil War rap and it’s really great

South Carolina was first in succession
But 11 states taught the North a lesson
They liked their life with their slaves and cotton
The North wanted unity and slavery was rotten

In 1861 Fort Sumter got it bad
And Union victory was yet to be had
A picnic at Bull Run was a scary affair
The Confederates won with confusion everywhere

CHORUS

In 1862, clad in iron, inspiring awe
Monitor and Merrimac ended in a draw
Shiloh means peace but the blood began to flow
The peaches were sweet but the North took the go

Farragut sailed down to New Orleans
The Johnnies got beat to smithereens
Thirteen months later after 7 days of battle
The Rebs herded Bull Run like a bunch of cattle

CHORUS

The Battle of Antietam, Lee’s plans are found
It’s the bloodiest day, but the Yanks rebound
Lincoln’s proclamation to you and me
Called Emancipation to set slaves free

Fredericksburg is where a lot of Union troops died
Lee saved Richmond and humbled Burnside
Pyrrhic Chancellorsville heard the frightening Rebel call
But the South was mistaken and shot Stonewall

CHORUS

Vicksburg’s on the river splitting Texas from the South
The Union has the river from its head to its mouth
July of ‘63 was great for the Blues
The Gettysburg battle began to make the news

The Gettysburg Address, “Four score and seven”
Lincoln spent two minutes for those that went to heaven
Bragg, from the South, had some fights in Tennessee
Chickamauga was successful, Chattanooga made them flee

CHORUS

A Wilderness fire killed the wounded corps
In an early May battle of ‘64
Lee led his troops in a Spotsylvania hold
Sherman took Atlanta; he was so bold

Lincoln was elected for the term to be
While Sherman began his march from Atlanta to the sea
April ’65 saw the end of this war
Grant took Petersburg and Richmond and then some more

CHORUS

Saylor’s Creek Battle was the last of them all
At Appomattox Courthouse Lee tried to stall
But Grant wanted surrender without a pause
The Rebs were going home without a cause

With the war at an end Lincoln went to a play
Little did he know it was his last day
A gun was aligned from his temple to his tooth
The bullet was fired by John Wilkes Booth

CHORUS