Ricky Skaggs Charlie & Johnny Reb Lyrics

Looking back at a page in time
The year was 1859
We ran deep in the souther pines
'Neath that Alabama Clay

Charlie and Johnny were brothers in blood
Nothing stronger than family love
The cotton was short and times were tough
So they went through seperate ways

Charlie moved north to work in corn
But Johnny he stayed south
And after being apart a couple of years
Civil war broke out

Well both of the brothers they were volunteers
After fighting each other for all those years
But if it came to fighting they had no fears
They had seen their share of fists

Then they got the news how it would be
The brothers had agreed to disagree
Is like taking an axe to the family tree Never dreamed it would come to this

Charlie put on the union blue
And Johnny the rebel grey
But each one pray his brother'd live
The fight another day

As dawn was breaking on the battle field
Through the canon smoke and the foggy hills
A shot rang out from the cold blue steele
Charlie held in his shakin' hands

And after the fight while countin' the cost
There was more that day than a battle lost
When under a tree line in the moss
Charlie came upon a young man

And as he wiped the mud and blood away
It took more than his breath
'Cause the soldier in his sights that day
Was his brother Johnny Reb