Blood in the Sink

My father was from Liblar He dreamed of living free When the rebellion failed in '48 My family had to leave We settled in the New World In New Braunfels town When my family went to the river I wouldn't swim, too scared to drown My father taught me early That slavery was sin And when the war erupted I hoped the North would win We were seen as foreign agents By our neighbors and our friends And it soon became clear that Our time in Texas had to end We packed up what we could Fled in the dead of night But the Confederates pursued us Itching for a fight Some of us were rebels Some of us were not But as far as the men in grey suits cared All were in on the plot We fought as best we could To protect our kin But their force was overwhelming We knew we couldn't win Blood in the river And some of it was mine And as I drowned I took my last Look at that Texas sky Today there stands a monument "Loyalty" it says But loyalty means little To so many dead So if you wish to honor us And that which we believed Lay down the sword and break the chain Create a world that's free