Put Dresses Away
Lyrics & Music: Maureen S. O'Brien

Some kissed the young men who left them behind.
Some nursed the dying and cried themselves blind.
Some sold their bodies and some went to spy
And some cut their hair off, to fight and to die.

CH:  Annie and Fanny and Bonnie and Belle
	Took up their rifles and marched into Hell.
	Took up their rifles, put dresses away
	And fought for their freedom in blue and in gray.

Hiding their bodies and hiding their names --
Hiding the hurt when their mail never came.
Hiding their wounds from the doctors who'd see
That they hid in plain sight for the right to be free.

CH:

No one to talk to, no friends they could trust --
Gave up more for their country than that time's men must --
And their glory was hidden, or held as a shame
Till the silence had covered their deeds and their names.

CH:

But history's stubborn.  It outlives the grave.
It calls us to witness -- these women were brave.
The chance to serve freely was all that they craved;
But if only in death, they freed two kinds of slave.

CH: