But the pontoon bridge Is gone...

For us these bummers meant freedom
the promise made good at last
that four-score-seven-year promise
why then do they turn us back
they have warned us not to follow
too close behind the guns
that the fighting up front is heavy
when it hasn't even begun

But the pontoon bridge is gone...

Some say the avenging angel
has turned upon his own
that all this talk of freedom
is just Sherman's marching song
some are pleading Jesus
asking what have they done wrong
running up and down the river bank
flailing their arms in song

but the pontoon bridge Is gone
and Sherman's troops have gone...

Some soldiers disobey orders
to help build rafts of logs
but they sink as oft as float
and time is running out
and rumors of wheeler's cavalry
to ship us back to the farm
or shoot us here right where we stand
helpless and unarmed

but the pontoon bridge Is gone
and Sherman's troops have gone...

the camp lies now in embers
newspapers all been read
talk of a change In Washington
of a dream shot through the head
some say Ebenezer
is a cursed name for a creek
some say Jefferson Davis
is a blessed name to speak

but the pontoon bridge is gone
and Sherman's troops have gone a
nd freedom now has gone...
 

This song Is based on a true incident during Sherman's march to the sea where one of his generals, Jefferson C. Davis ordered that his pontoon bridges be taken up abandoning a large group of recently freed slaves to General Wheeler's cavalry. The song is dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.