"The Vacant Chair"
The “Vacant Chair,” a sentimental Union song, was written in 1861 by Henry Washburn. Washburn was visiting a family of a Lieutenant who had been killed in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff. After Washburn wrote the lyrics, the popular composer of many Civil War musical works, George Root wrote music to accompany them. The song lyrics create the image of a family sitting around their table with one vacant chair for their fallen soldier. The powerful imagery that the song lyrics inspire is perhaps one of the reasons the song became a very popular funeral song for veterans (Waller et. al (2011) p. 150). “The Vacant Chair,” is another song that is applicable to us well beyond the time period for which it was written. When listening to the music and allowing the images that complement the lyrics to be created in our minds, we can relate to the same emotions that people listening during this time period felt with respect to death and loss in our own lives.
We shall meet but we shall miss him. There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.
When one year ago we gathered, Joy was in his mild blue eye.
Now the golden cord is severed, And our hopes in ruin lie.
CHORUS: We shall meet, but we shall miss him.
There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.
At our fireside, sad and lonely,
Often will the bosom swell
At remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie fell. How he strove to bear the banner
Thro' the thickest of the fight
And uphold our country's honor
In the strength of manhood's might.
CHORUS
True, they tell us wreaths of glory
Evermore will deck his brow,
But this soothes the anguish only,
Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now.
Sleep today, O early fallen,
In thy green and narrow bed.
Dirges from the pine and cypress
Mingle with the tears we shed.
CHORUS
We shall linger to caress him While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.
When one year ago we gathered, Joy was in his mild blue eye.
Now the golden cord is severed, And our hopes in ruin lie.
CHORUS: We shall meet, but we shall miss him.
There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.
At our fireside, sad and lonely,
Often will the bosom swell
At remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie fell. How he strove to bear the banner
Thro' the thickest of the fight
And uphold our country's honor
In the strength of manhood's might.
CHORUS
True, they tell us wreaths of glory
Evermore will deck his brow,
But this soothes the anguish only,
Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now.
Sleep today, O early fallen,
In thy green and narrow bed.
Dirges from the pine and cypress
Mingle with the tears we shed.
CHORUS