Ludlow Massacre

It was early springtime that the strike was on

They moved us miners out of doors

Out from the houses that the company owned

We moved into tents up at old Ludlow

I was worried bad about my children

Soldiers guarding the railroad bridge

Every once in a while a bullet would fly

Kick up the gravel under my feet

We were so afraid you would kill our children

We dug us a cave that was seven foot deep

Carried our young ones and a pregnant woman

Down inside the cave to sleep

That very night you soldiers waited

Until us miners were asleep

You snuck around our little tent town

Soaked our tents with your kerosene

You struck a match and the blaze it started

You pulled the triggers of your gatling guns

I made a run for the children but the fire wall stopped me

Thirteen children died from your guns

I carried my blanket to a wire fence corner

Watched the fire till the blaze died down

I helped some people grab their belongings

While your bullets killed us all around

I never will forget the looks on the faces

Of the men and women that awful day

When we stood around to preach their funerals

And lay the corpses of the dead away

We told the Colorado governor to call the President

Tell him to call out his National Guard

But the National Guard belonged to the governor

So he didn't try so very hard

Our women from Trinidad they hauled some potatoes

Up to Walsenburg in a little cart

They sold their potatoes and brought some guns back

And put a gun in every hand

The state soldiers jumped us in a wire fence corner

They did not know that we had these guns

And us redneck miners mowed down them troopers

You should have seen those poor boys run

We took some cement and walled the cave up

Where you killed those thirteen children inside

I said, "God bless the Mineworkers' Union"

And then I hung my head and cried