A Civil War tune that could have been witness to one of many battles. Shannon wrote this one several years ago while living in North Carolina, hence the Statesville reference. Casey’s banjo really drives this tune!

Lyrics

The Lives of the Innocent Shannon Slaughter C.B. Slaughterhouse

19 years when he told the farm goodbye / Last year’s stalks stiff as soldiers walking by
The leaves all lay scattered; cold and lifeless on the ground / Covered by the snow falling down

Mounted up he turned his sorrel north to ride / With his pistol and a rifle at his side
Headed to Virginia, farewell to Statesville town / In Southern Gray and Richmond bound

Chorus
Deep inside the coldest heart / Death pain and sorrow starts
Nothing left but sadness spent / On the lives of the innocent

Cannon fire broke that eerie morning still / Ten thousand comrades tried to take that hill
He let out his dying breath in the smoke-filled air / The smell of death was everywhere

History’s written by the learned so they say / But it’s read through eyes who never saw the day
That poor farmer’s son paid for a rich man’s deed / And died for the sins of greed