Pete Seeger - Sioux Indians lyrics

I'll sing you a song
Though it may be a sad one
Of trials and troubles and where first begun
I left my dear fam’ly, my friends and my home
To cross the wide mountains
And deserts to roam

I crossed the Missouri and
Joined a large train
Which bore us over mountains
Through valley and plain
And often of an evening a huntin' we'd go
To shoot the fleet antelope and wild buffalo

We heard of Sioux Indians all
Out on the plains a-killing poor drivers and
Burning their trains
A-killing poor drivers with arrows and bows
When captured by Indians no mercy they’d show
We traveled three weeks till we
Come to the Platte
A-pitching our tents at the head of the flat
We spread down our blankets on
The green shady ground
Where the mules and the
Horses were grazing around

While taking refreshment
We heard a loud yell
The whoops of Sioux Indians come
Up from the dell
We sprang to our rifles with
A flash in each eye
And says our brave leader
"We'll fight till we die"

They made a bold dash and
They come near our train
The arrows fell around us
Like showers of rain
But with our long rifles we fed them hot lead
Till a many a brave warrior
Around us lay dead

We shot their bold chief at
The head of their band
He died like a warrior with
His bow in his hand
When they saw their brave chief
Lie dead in his gore
They whooped and they yelled and
We saw them no more

In our little band there
Were just twenty-four
And of the Sioux Indians five hundred or more
We fought them with courage
We spoke not a word
The whoop of Sioux Indians was
All could be heard

We hooked up our horses and started our train
Three more bloody battles this
Trip on the plain
And in our last battle three
Of our brave boys fell
And we left them to rest
In the green shady dell