The Vacant Chair was written to commemorate the death of John William Grout, an 18-year-old second lieutenant of the 15th Massachusetts Infantry who was killed in the Battle of Ball's Bluff. This is also the only battle in history in which a sitting U.S. Senator, Edward Dickinson Baker, was killed. The battle, which was really a disaster of miscommunication and inexperience, occurred on October 21, 1861. Grout's body was found on November 5th, having floated down the Potomac nearly 35 miles to Washington. It was a sad Thanksgiving that year for Grout's family, and Henry S. Washburn wrote this poem to commemorate the day. George F. Root wrote the most popular setting of the poem, and the song became a huge favorite at home and with the troops, both North and South.

Lyrics

We shall meet, but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair,
We shall linger to caress him,
While we breathe our evening prayer.

When a year ago we parted, hope was in his clear blue eye,
But a golden chord is severed and our hopes in ruins lie.

We shall meet, but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair,
We shall linger to caress him,
While we breathe our evening prayer.

At our fireside, sad and lonely, often will the bosom swell,
At remembrance of the story how our noble Willie fell;
How he strove to bear our banner through the thickest of the fight,
And uphold our country's honor in the strength of manhood's might.

We shall meet, but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair,
We shall linger to caress him,
While we breathe our evening prayer.

True, they tell us wreaths of glory ever more will deck his brow,
But this soothes the anguish only sweeping o'er our heartstrings now.
Sleep today, oh early fallen, in thy green and narrow bed,
Dirges from the pine and cypress mingle with the tears we shed.

We shall meet, but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair,
We shall linger to caress him,
While we breathe our evening prayer.