re: Cavalry or Calvary

It’s there. It Might be in both. But it’s definitely in the Band’s version. They wrote the damn song

But it's not though. I guess it's time to get your mind blown. Go listen to the goddamn song. It's the first stanza of the second verse, about 1:45 in.

I hear the live versions as an 'uh'. There goes a-Robert E Lee.

I don't agree with that description. I just listened to make sure I'm not crazy

The album version very clearly has nothing. Not even an rrr leading in the R. A very clear pause. There goes... Robert E Lee

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Cavalry comes from cavalier, which comes from the French Chevalier, which comes from the French Cheval, for horse. People are dumb

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Anyone with a modicum of grounding in the classics knows that cavalry is derived from the Latin word “caballus”.

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General George Stoneman’s Union Cavalry rip up the rails of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, a main Confederate supply route, to prevent reinforcements reaching Robert E. Lee’s Army during the Siege of Petersburg. Robert E. Lee surrendered shortly after on April 9 at the Appomattox, and on May 10th Davis was captured by the Union Army and Richmond fell.

The Robert E. Lee mentioned in the second verse of the song is a steamboat named after the general that was launched on the Mississippi river in 1866

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I’m no chris

I'm done with this. Time to take a load off, Annie

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So how is it about the riverboat?

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The Robert E. Lee mentioned in the second verse of the song is a steamboat named after the general that was launched on the Mississippi river in 1866

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Robert E. Lee spent his entire military career as commanding General of the Army of Northern Virginia, and was never in Tennessee during the entire civil war. Research shows that this verse must certainly refer to the Mississippi steamboat "Robert E. Lee", which operated mainly between Natchez, Missouri, and New Orleans. This operational route did not include that stretch of the Mississippi River which borders western Tennessee, but the "Robert E. Lee" was known to venture as far north as St. Louis when revenue fell short on the Natchez-New Orleans run. While the previous two references indicate Virgil living along the R&D line in April 1865, there is no historical time reference by which to place the "Robert E. Lee" on the western Tennessee border where Ole' Miss flows. In 1870, the "Robert E. Lee" raced the "Natchez" (another steamboat) from New Orleans to St. Louis. (The "Robert E. Lee" won the contest.) This race would have taken the Robert E. Lee along the Mississippi on the western border of Tennessee, where Virgil's wife might have seen the steamboat. Virgil tells the story of his involvement in the Civil War in the first two references, and then quips "back with my wife in Tennessee", obviously following the events described earlier in the song. The logical conclusion is that Virgil's wife saw the "Robert E. Lee" sometime between April 1865 and 1870.

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I used to think it was “Robert E Lee” too...but Lee wasn’t in Tennessee

Now to know about Stoneman’s cavalry, the Danville train, and the other historical nuances in the song would require that they were versed in civil war history. And if they were, they’d know that Lee wasn’t in Tennessee, especially not in that time period. But...THE Robert E Lee was.

Another supporting factor, she’s rushing to get Virgil so he can see something...but not up close, it had to be far off. Something big. Even if Lee was in Tennessee at that time, she wouldn’t be able to pick him out of cavalry column from far away.

But she Would know that The Robert E Lee was due by them soon, and it was something that could be seen from afar.

So logic dictates that if they were correct on all the rest, they wouldn’t make such a glaring mistake.