The thirty-first day of December
Three thousand dressed blue and gray
All sons of the heavenly father
Lay in a watery grave
And the river runs red
The river runs red
One shot woke the Tennessee morning
Soon fire and smoke filled the sky
Then rain came down with no warning
As sorrow fell down from all sides
The river runs red
The river runs red
No winners or losers
When you count the dead
We watch it roll by
We all bow our heads
The guns have gone silent
But the river runs red
Now Rogers was from Alabama
And Thomas an old New York town
But soon they would die like blood brothers
In the stream where their souls would flow down
The river runs red
The river runs red
No winners or losers
When you count the dead
We watch it roll by
We all bow our heads
The guns have gone silent
But the river runs red
Some say you could see red for miles
And it flowed that way so many years
Now the water looks clean and untainted
But Stones River will never run clear
The river runs red
The river runs red
No winners or losers
When you count the dead
We watch it roll by
We all bow our heads
The guns have gone silent
But the river runs red
