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