No. 182 Down by the Riverside or We’ll End This War, Rev 68
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
Hark! listen to the trumpeters,
I mean to go!
They call for valiant volunteers,
I mean to go!
Oh! we’ll end this war.
Down by the river,
We’ll end this war down by the riverside.
See Gideon marching out to fight,
I mean to go!
He had no weapon but a light,
I mean to go!
Chorus
He took his pitcher and a lamp,
And stormed with ease the Midian camp.
I’ve listed during all this war,
Content to have a soldier’s fare.
The war is all my soul’s delight,
I love the thickest of the fight.
The hottest fight is just begun,
And who will stand and never run?
We want no cowards in our band,
We call for valiant-hearted men.
Fight on, ye conq’ring souls, fight on,
Until the conquest you have won.
I have some friends before me gone,
And I’m resolved to travel on.
Farewell, vain world, I’m going home,
My Savior smiles and bids me come.
I’ll tell you what I mean to do,
I mean to go to glory too.
The song bears the name of “Rev. J. K. Tinkham” as its purveyor to the Revivalist. A version of the spiritual song, as sung at about the same time (in the 1870’s) by the negroes, is in Marsh, No. 85, under the title ‘Down by the River’. Another by the same title is in Dett, p. 55; and still another in Dett, p. 74.