Digital Tradition Mirror

The Boys of Sanpete County

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Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Boys of Sanpete County

We, the boys of Sanpete County,
In all obedience to the call,
Started out with forty wagons
To bring immigrants in the fail.
Without fear or thought of danger
Lightly on our way we sped;
Every heart with joy abounded Captain
Seeley at the head.

When we reached Green River ferry,
On its banks so nice we stayed.
In the morning we ferried the wagons over,
Thinking soon to roll away.
Next to dnve the cattle over,
But we found they would not swim.
And oh! the boys were in the water
Many hours up to their chins.

Some to planks and boards were clinging,
Down the swelling tide it flows;
Some by heaven seem protected,
Was driven to shore upon the boat.
Some to oxen horns were clinging,
But to them it was all o'er,
For boys and cattle all went under,
Never more to step on shore.

One had landed on an island,
Clinging to the willows green,
But to him life seemed extinguished,
And he backward fell into the stream.
The six boys from parents driven
And from friends that they did love,
Yet there is a brighter morning
That we all shall meet above.

DT #830
Laws B26
In 1866 Captain William Stewart Seeley of Mount Pleasant went
with a Church train to Laramie, Wyoming, to assist Mormon immigrants
coming to Utah.  The difficulties of Seeley`s men while crossing
Green River are narrated in this song. LH
From Ballads and Songs from Utah, Hubbard
EC
apr97

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