Tennessee Heartache, of a young Sevierville lass, is memorialized in her own words and epitomizes the Poverty of Loneliness, suffered by women left on the home front during the Civil War.
“O Dear! its shameful I declare, To make the men all go, And leive so manny sweetharts here, Wit out a single bough.
We like to see them leave ’tis true, And wold not urge them stay; But what are we poor girls to do, When you are all away?
We told you we cold spare you here, Before you had to go, But Bless your Harts, wernt aware, That we would miss you sow.
We miss you all in manny ways, But troth will ware out; The gratest things we miss you for, Joy going withe out.
On Sunday when we go to church, We look in vane for sum, To mete us smilin on the porch, And ask to see us home.
And then we dont enjoy a walk, Since all the bows have gone; For what the good to us plain talk, If we must trip alone?
But what the use talkin thus, We will try to beecontent, And if you cannot come to us, A message may bee cent.
And that one comfort any way, Although we are Apart, There is no reason why,we may Not open, hart to hart.
We trust it may not ever come, To any War like test, We want to see our Southern home, Secured in peaceful rest.
But if the blood of those we love, In freedoms cause must floo, With fervent trust in Lov Above, We bid them onward go.”
The Tennessee Heartache, expressed by the lonely Sevierville maiden, is a common thread of the fears and unknowns, of all the sweethearts left to fend for themselves, when their beloved goes to war. Sometimes the “old guy” wonders, who carries the greatest burden, the Warrior on the battlefield or the Hearth and Home Heroes, suffering the Poverty of Loneliness.
Bummer
