Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)

I was a soldier for a long time, Infantry, served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This song made me think about the men I knew who left their wives and loved one and never returned. Brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it and made me a instant fan of The Decemberist. (btw, the lyrics on here are wrong in a couple of places, ie voles, not wolves, Bulletin Battle-cry not bullets in battle creeks, he just sings poetically and scaly skin, not skeins. Some folks are trying to hard to "interpret" where the soldier is from. I will dispel all the myths right now. Keep in mind they are Artists(Colin and company) and part of enjoying this kind of artistic work is interpretation. First off clearly she is from South Carolina, Oconee County in the Mountains. Why and how would she be with a northerner? He did not fly in for weekends! Also they were attending the Fair together putting him there with her in South Carolina. He carved with a "Yankee Bayonet" maybe because it was a souvenir he took from the battlefield or the fact that the south did not have much production capacity and in fact used "Yankee" and British weapons. That is an interpretation thing, it is open to your interpretation. In fact maybe she carved it? Maybe the bayonet was left behind or was it the carving? not clear but some other things are clear....... For instance, modes of travel were slow at that time, yes Manasas is in Virginia south of Washington DC not to far by our standards today, but a long trip in those days. It is far away from her in South Carolina by the standards of the day. Third, he (the soldier in the song) Refers to the Battle as "Manasas" Southerners called it Manasas, Yankees called the battle "bull-run" Thus he has to be a Southerner.