Below is a song written by Jas. W. Ellis, a private of Company E., 4th Arkansas Regiment

Reference: page 70 'The Camp, the Bivouac, and the Battlefield' by W.P. Gammage.

MURFREESBORO'S DEAD
As "Sixty-Two" lay down to die,
He'd scarcely reached his tomb
When "Sixty-Three" was ushered in
'Mid cannon's awful boom:
Whilst on the East the New Year blushed
Ere Phobus rose in view:
Full many a Patriot breathed his last,
And went with "Sixty-Two."

Their names are dropt at roll-call now.
Nor will they answer more:
Yet will their deeds of valor live,
Remembered as before.
The fatal ball their bosoms pierced.
And shed their warm life-blood
On Southern soil - for "Southern rights"
To water Freedom's sod!

Ho! living men behold their deeds.
And see their nameless graves;
Come forth, avenge their death on fields
Where died these Southern braves;
Their names a Nation now reveres,
For nobly did they fall
Defending right - religion's cause -
At Freedom's sacred call!

They rushed to arms and joined the ranks
In which they fought and bled.
Come, emulate the example set
By Murfreesboro's dead;
The mercenary hordes;
Strike, strike! remembering all the while
"The battle is the Lord's"

Should the invader dare advance
And desecrate their graves.
Then charge and shout "we'd rather die
Than live and be his slaves."
Their children in our sunny land
When Peace is smiles shall shed
Can proudly say, our fathers sleep
With Murfreesboro's Dead."

Shelbyville, Tenn., Feb. 15th 1863.