Many stories are shared in form, between different cultures, and different countries.
And this is, um, a song of war.
A song and a story of war.
And, although this version comes out of the American civil war.
Um, other versions have come out of other wars.
And usually the, story is called The Letter.
But this version I have added, um, verses of an American folk song to it.
And we call the whole thing The Hills, of Shiloh.
Have you seen Amanda Jane wandering through the morning rain.
Have you seen her wandering down, wandering through the sleeping town.
In her yellow dressing gown, amongst the hills of Shiloh.
Have you heard Amanda cry, seen the tear drops in her eye.
Listening for the sound of guns, listening for the role of drums and for a man who never comes, from the hills of Shiloh.
I was a soldier, in the Union Army, under General Grant.
Me, a Pennsylvania farm boy, in a blue uniform and boots.
And one of those new Springfield rifles.
We went marching out of town and, the flags were all flying and, banners waving.
And all those pretty girls, they were all smiling at us.
And it felt good to be a soldier.
And we marched on out of town and, the band stopped playing.
And they turned round and went back.
And I guess they wasn’t comin’ to the war with us, and that seemed a right shame.
Well, we marched down out of Kentucky and, we marched clear across Tennessee.
I began to think the war was all bout marching.
And that whoever marched the furthest would be the winners.
Then I heard the cannon, way off to the west it was, like, summer thunder.
The closer we got, the louder it got.
And I don’t mind telling you, I was scared.
But I didn’t tell anyone.
And we crossed the big river and, we came to this little place called Shiloh.
And we went up into the hills beyond it.
And there was a ridge.
And along this ridge there was a shallow ditch and, we were lined up along this shallow ditch and faced off down the slope.
And the officer came in front of us and said,
'no matter what those rebels throw up this hill at us boys, they ain't going to get past, they ain't going to take the ridge.
'
'No sir,' we said.
'No rebel solder is gonna get past us.
'
And we waited on there.
And it came on night, and I pretended to sleep.
And when it came morning there was mist, mist so thick you couldn’t see twenty-five paces in front of you.
And we were told to fix our bayonets, and load our rifles.
And face off down that slope.
And that we did.
Then I heard it.
Heard the sound of boots, thudding on grass.
Coming up the hill through the mist.
Couldn’t see a thing, but I could hear those boots.
I don’t mind telling you I was scared.
And then those boots started into running, and we heard those rebel yells coming up through the mist.
And the officer was saying, 'don’t shoot boys, don’t shoot.
Don’t shoot until you see 'em.
'So, we held our fire.
And then out of the mist they came.
All those rebel soldiers running towards us, bayonets.
And comin’ straight for me there was an officer grey uniform with a sword raised, looked like it was going to slice me in two.
And I raised my rifle and I shot him.
Right between the eyes I shot him.
And he came crashing down in amongst us, dead.
And then it was hand to hand.
It was swords.
It was bayonets.
It was rifle butts.
It was boots.
It was anything to drive those rebel boys back down that hill.
And drive them back we did.
Back down the hill, back into the mist.
There was no sound of boots anymore.
Just the... crying of the wounded.
And some boy out there, calling for his mother.
When the mist lifted we could see what we had done.
And those rebel boys lay out there like old grey sacks of corn.
And I wasn’t proud of what we had done.
And we waited there.
We waited for them to come back.
But they didn't come back.
And it came on night again and this time... I feel asleep.
And when I woke it was black as pitch.
And I had a thirst on me, like I had never known before.
And I reached for my canteen and then I cursed because it was empty.
And a voice came out of the darkness beside me.
'What’s the trouble friend.
'
'Ah, I got this thirst on me,' I said, 'and my canteen, it's empty.
'
'Here, take mine,' said the voice.
And a hand came out of the darkness and, handed me a canteen and it was full.
Ah, water never tasted so good.
I drank the half of it and, gave it back and, thanked the solider beside me.
And then we got to talkin’ the way soldiers do.
Until he said to me, 'friend, I want you to make a promise on me.
In the pocket of my tunic is a letter.
If I die up here on this ridge, if I get killed up here.
I want you to promise you will take that letter to my wife, so she'll know I ain't comin’ back.
'
'Oh, you ain't gonna die,' I said.
'No more than I am.
No, me and you friend, we will see this war through together.
'
'Well, just in case.
'
He said.
'Promise.
'
So I promised... And I guess I fell asleep.
And when I woke, light was coming to the sky, and I turned to wish good day on the solider, and to thank him for giving me of his water.
But there was no soldier.
Lying beside me cold as the clay... with a bullet fall through his head was the rebel officer I’d shot as he came up the hill at me the day before.
I don’t mind telling you, I was scared.
A chill went through me like a knife.
My hand trembled so I could hardly reach into the pocket of his tunic.
And there sure enough was a letter addressed to... Amanda Jane, down there in Shiloh.
I carried that letter with me right through that damn war.
And when the fight was over I, tramped back clear across Tennessee, and across the big river.
And I found that address.
And I don’t mind telling you I was scared.
I walked up and down outside that house best part of a day, before I took up courage to knock on the door.
And a lady came.
I didn’t say anything.
I just handed her the letter.
And stood there and watched her read it and watched the tears come down her face.
Till she turned to me and said, 'were you a friend of my husband's.
'
God forgive me.
I didn’t have the courage to tell her... I was the man who had killed him.
'No,' I said, 'we were just two soldiers who shared a canteen of water.... One dark night... Up there in the hills of Shiloh.'