Capo I

A
     A      E          A
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight,"
  E                     E7    A
except here and there a stray picket,
              E            A   
is shot as he walks on his beat to and fro,
     E        D          E7  E
by a rifleman hid in the thicket
     E7        E          A           E
'Tis nothing a private or two now and then,
         D                        A  E
will not count in the news of the battle
       D       E          A          D
Not an officer lost, only one of the men,
        A        E        E7       A
moaning out all alone the death rattle.

            F#m        E E7  E  A
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight!" 

     A      E          A          
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight,"
          E            E7         A
where the soldiers lie peacefully dreaming
                       E           A
And their tents in the rays of the clear autumn moon,
        E            D              E7  E
and the light of the camp fires are gleaming
        E7       E            A             E
There's only the sound of the lone sentry's tread,
      D                           A   E
as he tramps from the rock to the fountain
    D             E          A           D
And thinks of the two on the low trundle bed,
     A          E          E7  A
far away in the cot on the mountain.

            F#m        E E7  E  A
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight!" 

    A            E         A          
His musket falls slack his face, dark and grim ,
      E           E7       A
grows gentle with memories tender
                E              A
As he mutters a pray'r for the children asleep,
          E            D        E7   E
and their mother, "May heaven defend her!"
    E7            E        A           E
The moon seems to shine as brightly as then,
     D                          A  E
that night, when the love yet unspoken.
       D         E              A            D
Leap'd up to his lips, and when low murmur'd vows,
     A              E    E7 A
were pledg'd, to be ever un broken.

            F#m        E E7  E  A
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight!" 

     A           E              A          
Then drawing his sleeve roughly o'er his eyes,
   E              E7             A
he dashes off the tears that are welling
    E                        A
And gathers his gun close up to his breast,
         E             D       E7   E
as if to keep down the heart's swelling
   E7         E             A            E
He passes the fountain, the blasted pine tree,
        D                       A  E
and his footstep is lagging and weary
    D         E               A             D
Yet onward he goes, thro' the broad belt of light,
           A              E     E7     A
toward the shades of the forest so dreary.

            F#m        E E7  E  A
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight!" 

      A          E               A          
Hark! was it the night-wind that rustles the leaves,
E                       E7          A
was it the moonlight so wond'rously flashing?
   E                         A
It look'd like a rifle! "Ha, Mary, good-bye!",
        E             D          E7   E 
and his life-blood is ebbing and plashing.
     E7     E          A       E
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight,"
   D                          A  E
no sound save the rush of the river
      D              E          A           D
While soft falls the dew on the face of the dead,
    A            E       E7 A
the picket's off duty forev er.

            F#m        E E7  E  A
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight!" 

            F#m        E E7  E  A
"All quiet along the Potomac tonight!"