By Maj. Charles G. Halpine (Private Miles O’Reilly), 47th N.Y. Vol. Inf.

Key of C.

ENGINEERS AND MECHANICS.

There are bonds of all sorts in this world of ours,
Fetters of friendship and ties of flowers,
And true lovers’ knots, I ween.
The boys and the girls are bound by a kiss,
But there’s never a bond, old friend, like this:
We have drunk from the same canteen!
The same canteen, my soldier friend,
The same canteen;
There’s never a bond like this:
We have drunk from the same canteen!

It was sometimes water and sometimes milk,
Sometimes apple-jack as fine as silk;
But, whatever the tipple has been,
We shared it together in bane or in bliss,
And I warn you, friend, when I think of this:
We have drunk from the same canteen.
We’ve shared our blankets and tents together,
And marched and fought in all kinds of weather,
And hungry and full we’ve been;
Had days of battle and days of rest,
But this memory I cling to and love the best:
We’ve drunk from the same canteen.
For when wounded I lay on the outer slope,
With my blood flowing fast and but little hope
On which my faint spirit might lean,
Oh! then, I remember, you crawled to my side,
And bleeding so fast it seemed both must have died,
We have drunk from the same canteen!

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER.

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