High-Water Mark (July 3rd, 1863)

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Jan. 12, 20041 viewer

High-Water Mark (July 3rd, 1863) Lyrics

[Segue – Part 1: Cannonade/Intro – 00:00-01:52]

[Instrumental Intro]

[Part 2: The Burden of Command – 01:52-03:28]

[Verse 1 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
Lee: "It was very close, yesterday
I thought for sure, they would break
But this attack, that I have planned
A massive strike across open land
In the center, they will break"
(Will they break?)
"But plan it well, everything's at stake
We'll hit 'em hard, not a silent gun
Before the Infantry's begun"

[Pre-Chorus 1 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
Lee: "Execute it well, we risk everything
It's in God's hands now"

[Verse 2 – Jon Schaffer]
Longstreet: "General Lee, I must tell you straight
That I believe this attack will fail
No 15.000 men ever made
Will overtake that ridge today
A mile charge over open ground
With Yankee cannon gunnin' us down"

[Pre-Chorus 2 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
Lee: "We do our duty, we do what we must
And in my plan, you will trust"
(Thousands die)
"Execute it well, we risk everything"
(On this day)
"It's in God's hands now"

[Part 3: The Last Full Measure – 03:28-06:51]

[Orchestral Section and Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
The rebel cannon break the silence
150 guns make up their cannonade
They must destroy the Union Center
Before the Infantry can launch their grand assault
The Yankees are returning fire
(The Earth shakes violently)
In Washington D.C
Lincoln feels the Earth shake

[Chorus 1 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
What happens here this day
The fate of this nation
In the balance it will hang
Consumed with the pain
The courage of the blue
The valor of the grey
So very sad but true
Consumed with the pain

[Verse 4 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
The Virginians are the chosen
In wait behind the trees on Seminary Ridge
Longstreet's slow to give the order
The lines emerged a mile, 15.000 men
The charge begins in all its grandeur
(To the Copse of Trees)
For many of these men
They know it is their last

[Chorus 2 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
The slaughter now ensues
Bodies fall like rain
They valiantly pursue
Yet doomed to remain
At the double quick they charge
The canister rips through them
To the mouth of hell they march
Glory, the only gain

[Part 4: Charge!! – 06:51-09:21]

[Instrumental Break with Cannons Shooting Sound]
[Guitar Solo, Drums and Cannons Shooting Sound]

[Bridge – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
Armistead: "We're almost there my boys
I've never served with finer
We must push forward boys
And bayonet the Yankee tyrants
To the Copse of Trees we charge
To crush the Union Center
And when they turn and run
An open road leads us to freedom"

[Part 5: The Melee – 09:21-12:36]

[Guitar Solo and Orchestral Section]
[War Sound]

[Chorus 3 – Tim "Ripper" Owens]
Lee: "It's over now we are retreating
I never thought that we'd be beaten
All this blood is on my hands
The thousands dead due to my plan
I am responsible, all of it is my fault
I thought us invincible
Is this God's will, after all?
I look across this blood soaked land
All this blood is on my hands
God forgive me, please forgive me
It's all my fault
The blood is on my hands"

[Instrumental Outro – Fading]

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Genius Annotation

“High Water Mark” documents the third day (July 3, 1863) of the Battle of Gettysburg, during the American Civil War. It is the third song in the trilogy known collectively as “Gettysburg (1863)”, that closes out Iced Earth’s album The Glorious Burden.

Battle of Gettysburg, third day cavalry battles - Wikipedia — Wikipedia

On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 3, 1863) during the disastrous infantry assault nicknamed Pickett's Charge, there were two cavalry battles: one approximately three miles (5 km) to the east, in the area known today as East Cavalry Field, the other southwest of the [Big] Round Top mountain (sometimes called South Cavalry Field).

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
– Abraham Lincoln