"Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee!"
Some say the above line is referring to the steamshipRobert E Lee.
But I believe the writer may be using Lee is as metaphor, meaning
‘a rebel army unit’ (is advancing or passing by)
“Now I don't mind, I'm chopping wood
And I don't care if the money's no good”
I believe here, he is not grumbling about the poor pay chopping
wood. Chopping wood was a necessity in those days for heating
and cooling. He is grumbling about the money being worthless,
because in 1865, nearly ½ of all money in circulation was
counterfeit, being ‘no good’. ‘No mind to other problems,
the wood needs chopped’.
“Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest,
But they should never have taken the very best“
IMO, the above lines are a clear reference to foraging . Civil
war armies would raid nearby farms “taking what they need“,
this was called ‘foraging’. But they rarely took only what they
needed, they typically robbed farms of the best stock, money,
clothing etc., sometimes leaving homesteaders destitute, with
little or nothing to live on.
"Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee!"
Some say the above line is referring to the steamshipRobert E Lee. But I believe the writer may be using Lee is as metaphor, meaning ‘a rebel army unit’ (is advancing or passing by)
“Now I don't mind, I'm chopping wood And I don't care if the money's no good”
I believe here, he is not grumbling about the poor pay chopping wood. Chopping wood was a necessity in those days for heating and cooling. He is grumbling about the money being worthless, because in 1865, nearly ½ of all money in circulation was counterfeit, being ‘no good’. ‘No mind to other problems, the wood needs chopped’.
“Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest, But they should never have taken the very best“
IMO, the above lines are a clear reference to foraging . Civil war armies would raid nearby farms “taking what they need“, this was called ‘foraging’. But they rarely took only what they needed, they typically robbed farms of the best stock, money, clothing etc., sometimes leaving homesteaders destitute, with little or nothing to live on.