Lyrics

This Rodeo – Sean Michael Sullivan ©

City of Diamond, in Missouri
I’ve got two historic markers under me
Saw Neosho, an edict passed
Claiborne Jackson made it 12 states for the Rebs

Saw a mansion, built by slaves
Owned by a union sympathizer, town he shaped
Matthew Ritchey, Newtonia
Had a mill, a couple roads before the war

Gas station coffee – windows down
Headed north to see the Jasper County town
Battle of Carthage, July of ‘61
Saw 5,000 troops engage before Bull Run

Bloody Hill, at Wilson’s Creek,
Was where Nathaniel Lyon fell, Union retreat
A Volunteer, John Ray was blue
Enlisted a slave woman and her children too

East to Springfield, Lyon enshrined
Next to the unmarked graves of men who fought both sides
But Sterling Price, a tower built, it said
‘They fought for the right of self-government’

I don’t know - I don’t know,
This rodeo’s got no place to go