The Vacant Chair
or We Shall Meet But We Shall Miss Him
Words and Music by George F. Root

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This song is about the families who had lost loved ones in the American Civil War.  The lyrics attempt to portray the pride and grief experienced by them on the then recently established holiday of Thanksgiving.  George Frederick Root (1820-1895) was a popular and prolific song writer as well as a partner in the firm of Root & Cady of Chicago, Illinois, which published this song in 1862.

"We shall meet, but we shall miss him, there will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him when we breathe our evening prayer.
When a year ago we gathered, joy was in his mild blue eye,
But a 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 when we breathe our evening 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 our 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 ever more 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)

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This page Copyright by Scott Cantwell Meeker of Deep Vee Productions.
All Rights Reserved. Created March 26, 2000.  Last updated August 7, 2002.