Songs of '61: The First Gun is Fired

The First Gun is Fired

by George F. Root 

April 1861

The first gun is fired! 

may God protect the right!

Let the free-born sons of the North arise 

in power's avenging might

Shall the glorious Union our fathers made 

by ruthless hands be sundered?

And we of freedom's sacred right 

by trait'rous foes be plundered.

Chorus:

Arise; Arise; Arise! 

And gird ye for the fight,

And let our watchword ever be, 

May God protect the right.

The first gun is fired, 

By echoes thrill the land,

And the bounding hearts of the patriot throng, 

Now firmly take their stand;

We will bow no more to the tyrant few 

Who scorn our long forebearing,

But with Columbia's stars and stripes, 

We'll quench their trait'rous daring

The first gun is fired, 

Oh! heed the signal well,

And the thunder tone as it rolls along 

Shall sound opression's knell,

For the arm of freedom is mighty still, 

But strength shall fail us never,

The strength we'll give to our righteous cause 

And our glorious land forever!

Lost Cause Nostalgia Again

Tami at What Tami Said offers a trenchant critique of the pop-country band Lady Antebellum that may be of interest to some readers (cross-posted at Racialicious).

Though it sounds like Lady Antebellum's Lost Cause Nostalgia doesn't extend much beyond its appellation, I'm glad to see other people calling out the casual romanticization of the antebellum South. This is not a case of over-the-top neoconfederate fantasy like Gods and Generals, but it's important to recognize that casual references that idealize the antebellum South are a symptom of something fairly odious. It's easy to laugh at something as epically ridiculous as Mary Fahl's Going Home, but Lady Antebellum might slip under the radar.


I love this video. Seriously, try to keep a straight face past the 2:15 marker. It gets me every time.

iTunes Obscenities

I was poking around on iTunes today, looking for a Christmas gift, and happened across the page for No Irish Need Apply (2003). For those of you who have not seen it before, this is a CD recorded by The Gallant Sons of Erin, a band composed mostly of my family members, reenacting buddies, and neighbors and specializing in Irish-American music of the mid-19th century. My Dad plays guitar and sings, my uncle plays banjo, I play tin whistle, our friend Todd plays bodhran, our neighbor Nan plays fiddle, etc. Most of the songs are related to the experiences of the 28th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.

Anyway, I had never seen its iTunes page before, so I was surprised to see that one of the song titles had been censored. "Fág an Bealach"* is the rallying cry of the the 28th MVI ("clear the way" in Irish), but it seems that iTunes read that first word as a slur and replaced the a with an asterisk. It's fun to see our album marked as potentially racy when, in reality, it is nuclear-level nerdy.

Come gallant sons of Erin who battle for the right,

Come show your Yankee brethren how Irish lads can fight!

The flag is waving o'er us and brightly gleams the day

We're bound for Carolina, Jeff Davis clear the way!

Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach

Jeff Davis clear the way!

We bear a noble motto,'twas heard in days of yore

When the famous Connaught rangers swept o'er the Spanish shore.

The foe went down before it, and so they will the day

When Erin and Old Bay State shout, "seceshes, clear the way!"

Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach

Seceshes clear the way! 

Our gallant comrades gone before have opened wide the track,

The bloody lash shall fall, but not this time on Cuffee's back.

Hark! How the noble fellows call from far Port Royal Bay,

Come on, me boys, the hunt is up, seceshes clear the way!

Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach

Jeff Davis clear the way! 

Old Erin's spirit wakes again, her sould is mounting high,

The soul of Robert Emmet gleams from out each patriot eye.

Lord, help the southern cohort, who in the battle's fray

Shall hear our Irish slogan, "seceshes, clear the way!"

Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach, Fág an Bealach

Jeff Davis clear the way!

* Sometimes spelled "Faugh a Ballagh." When I was about 13, we had a pair of kittens named Faugh and Ballagh.

Three Fishers

One of the ideas I'm entertaining for my dissertation has something to do with maritime cemeteries and death at sea. As part of the initial research, I'm looking at 19th-century songs about shipwrecks and listening to modern recordings of these songs when I can find them.

My most recent discovery is a poem/song called "Three Fishers," which was written by Charles Kingsley in 1851. It is truly the most depressing song I have ever heard.

Three fishers went sailing away to the West,
Away to the West as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbour bar be moaning.

Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower,
And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown.
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbour bar be moaning.

Three corpses lay out on the shining sands
In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come home to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep;
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.

The first time I heard "Three Fishers" was on Stan Rogers' For the Family. I like Stan Rogers, but his version has an annoying fiddle interlude by Garnet Rogers. In hopes that I might avoid listening to this overwrought instrumental section ever again, I bought several other versions on iTunes.

Having listened to every available recording of "Three Fishers," I am ready to render my professional opinion:

If you are looking for a song about economic privation and drowning/freezing to death in the North Atlantic, you'll never do better than Stan Rogers.

I Heart Little History Nerds

After watching 5-year-old Wesley sing "Folsom Prison Blues" ("I shot a man in Weeno . . .") I clicked around a bit and found this original composition, performed at the same open mic night. Connor, age nine, is learning to play the guitar and write songs. His composition is called "Civil War," though "CIVIL WAR!" might be more accurate. Chorus: "CANNONBALLS! BULLETS!" I vaguely remember writing something similar when I was in third grade. Enjoy!

Wakefield Trumpets

Back in March, I posted a collection of trumpet imagery from New England gravestones. Since then, I found a few more in Wakefield — three stones all in a row.

Thomas Nichols, Wakefield, MA, 1765:

Elizabeth Lambert, Wakefield, MA, 1775:

Thomas Lambert, Wakefield, 1753:

Trumpets

Gravestone theme of the day: Trumpets!

Lydia Hartshorn, Providence, RI, 1776:

Elizabeth Clark, Chelmsford, MA, 1767:

Chandler Holmes, Plymouth, MA, 1831:

Margaret Cumings, Billerica, MA, 1790:

Jonas Clark, Chelmsford, MA, 1770:

David Payson, Wiscasset, ME, 1814:

More trumpets! And more, and more, and more!

Lost Cause Nostalgia

One night, when I was in high school, I babysat for my siblings while my parents went to see the Tony-nominated musical/concert, "The Civil War." My mom and dad are massive Civil War buffs — they went to Gettysburg for their honeymoon — with a particular interest in Civil War music, so they were pretty excited about seeing this show.
They came home spluttering.

Besides the overall dreadfulness of the show in terms of music and lyrics (detailed in delightful pans here, here, and here), they were highly offended by the content. My mom could not stop raging over a nurse's song called, "I Never Knew His Name," in which the nurse repeatedly expresses her gratitude for not knowing the names of the dying so that she can retain emotional distance. Of course, real Civil War nurses were desperate to find out soldiers' names in order to notify families and give the dead proper burials (see This Republic of Suffering). My mom, who was in the midst of editing a Civil War nurse's letters, was beside herself.

Then there was the whole slavery issue. Apparently, this show decided to take the "everyone is equally brave, so who cares about moral questions" approach. Yes, there are slaves in the show, but they are this oddly estranged third party who stand around passively hoping for freedom. The production is heavy on uplifting songs called "Someday" and "River Jordan," but light on connecting slavery to the Confederacy or acknowledging black men's and women's roles in securing their own freedom.

I recently came across the soundtrack of this monstrosity and was quite shocked by it. I had remembered that it was bad, but not this bad.

In particular, one song — "Virginia" — made me queasy. Sung in the voice of a Confederate soldier, this maudlin crapfest is as bald a celebration of the antebellum south as you're likely to find on iTunes. Sample lyrics:

There was a time, a time of splendor and grace
When the world moved by at a kinder pace.
There was a land, a land to pleasure the eyes
Where the old was new and the foolish wise [wtf?].

Truly awful stuff, all wrapped in cotton candy and run through a synthesizer.

My one question was whether there is a degree of plausible deniability in the fact that this is sung by a Confederate soldier. Unlike the odious "Going Home" from Gods and Generals,* which adopts the voice of a modern viewer yearning for the antebellum Elysium, "Virginia" is presented as the sincere nostalgia of an historical actor. Of course, he is a sympathetic character whose highly selective vision of his homeland is supposed to touch the audience, so the distinction only goes so far. There are no cues in the show suggesting that we should regard this character's ideas as unfortunate, problematic, or racist.

After seeing a post on Civil War art over at Civil War Memory, I decided to make a video combining this terrible song with Lost Cause imagery. If you can make it through the first two minutes, I added some commentary near the end.


p.s. I was going to make a parody video of "Going Home," but nothing could be more hilarious than this serious video, starting around 2:15:


*Why do I hate "Going Home"? 
Simple: it conflates the antebellum south with heaven. You might even think that the song is about heaven if not for the lines,

I know in my bones
I've been here before,
The ground feels the same,
Though the land's been torn.

A close reading of this passage strongly supports the idea that she's talking about the south, a place where the "land's been torn" by the war. If you still think that this song is about heaven or going "into the West," check out the actual beginning of Gods and Generals, where this song is immediately preceded by the following quotation:

A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some area of native land where it may get the love of tender kinship from the earth, for the labors men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar unmistakable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge. The best introduction to astronomy is to think of the nightly heavens as a little lot of stars belonging to one's own homestead. —George Eliot

It is then followed by a three-and-a-half-hour Jackson hagiography.

"Christmas Bells"

In the very likely event that Jeffrey Goldberg does not read my unsolicited email, I would like to go on the record as saying that the Christmas carol known as "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and not, as Goldberg states, by Johnny Marks.

This carol is often said to be "based on" Longfellow's poem, but that's pretty weak. If I could get credit for "adapting" poems merely by deleting two stanzas and changing the title, I'd get a lot more author credits.

Update: Hey, how about that! Thanks for reading my email, Mr. Goldberg! Now I can sleep easy.

Ballad Genealogy

A few weeks ago, Pete took me to a Great Big Sea show at the Orpheum for my birthday. It was a great show, and even though they did play a lot of songs from their new album, they played a healthy dose of traditional music as well, including "The River Driver," a song from the logging camps of Newfoundland. Since I can't turn my brain off, I spent the duration of this song wondering about the origins of this song, which is clearly related to several other well-known songs.

The chorus of "The River Driver" should sound familiar to anyone with a passing interest in English/Scottish/Irish folk music:

I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by,
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

When I got home, I went through my iTunes library and identified other songs that include the "I'll eat when I'm hungry . . ." line. As it turns out, these songs have variations of another phrase in common: "I'll build me a castle on some green mountain high / Where I can see my darling as she goes passing by." Other similarities include the phrase "far from my home" and a theme of separation from a lover, often because her parents disapprove of the match.


These songs come from all over the British diaspora, from Newfoundland to Louisiana, from Appalachia to Ireland, recorded by music archivists and icons of popular music alike. They clearly have a common ancestor. I can't find an obvious antecedent among the Child Ballads, but it's there somewhere. I've found some sources that link these ballads to an 18th-century ballad called "The Cuckoo," but nothing older than that. Any suggestions?

The River Driver

Newfoundland

recorded by: Great Big Sea

lyrics

Rye Whiskey

USA/Appalachia

recorded by: Woody Guthrie

lyrics

The Moonshiner

Ireland

recorded by: The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem

lyrics

The Moonshiner

USA

recorded by: Bob Dylan*

lyrics

*This version is substantially different from the Clancy Brothers' version.

The Cuckoo

USA

recorded by: Hem

lyrics

The Rebel Soldier

USA/Southeast

recorded by: Bobby Horton

lyrics

Jack o'Diamonds

USA/West

recorded by: Ed McCurdy

lyrics

Stewball (or Skewball)
USA/South
recorded by: Steeleye Span
lyrics
(Steeleye Span's version does not include the relevant verse, which I found in Alan Lomax's American Ballads and Folksongs. Lomax recorded a version sung among African-American prisoners in the American South that includes the verse, "Gwine to build me a castle on de mountain so high / So's I can see ol' Stewball as he passes by."

Saturday in Portland

I just got back from a Great Big Sea concert in Portland, ME, where we had a memorable election-related moment.

Before the show, a few women broke out their Newfoundland flags and waved them around to general applause. Then, more Newfoundland flags appeared all around the auditorium — at least half a dozen in all. Everyone clapped and cheered.

As the applause died down, someone produced an Obama/Biden yard sign (he carries it around with him?) and unfurled it to even greater applause. There were a couple of boos here and there, but the cheers and whistles easily overwhelmed them. And this was not a particularly young audience.

I guess it's true: Maine is blue.

Give Us A Flag

A few months ago, I posted the lyrics of "The Marching Song of the First Arkansas," a song ostensibly written by a white officer serving with the 1st Arkansas USCT. I am of the opinion that the officer, Captain Miller, merely transcribed the lyrics after hearing the soldiers sing the song on the march (argument here).

Today, in honor of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw's 171st birthday, I present a song written by a private serving with Company A of the 54th Massachusetts (my source does not give his name):

Give Us A Flag

Frémont he told them when the war it first begun,

How to save the Union, and the way it should be done;

But Kentucky swore so hard and old Abe he had his fears,

Till every hope was lost but the colored volunteers.

Chorus:

Oh! give us a flag, all free without a slave,

We'll fight to defend it as our fathers did so brave:

The gallant Comp'ny "A" will make the rebels dance;

And we'll stand by the Union if we only have a chance.

McClellan went to Richmond with two hundred thousand brave:

He said, 'keep back the niggers' and the Union he would save.

Little Mac he had his way, still the Union is in tears,

Now they call for the help of the colored volunteers.

Old Jeff says he'll hang us if we dare to meet him armed:

A very big thing, but we are not at all alarmed;

For he first has got to catch us before the way is clear,

And 'that's what's the matter' with the colored volunteer.

So rally, boys, rally, let us never mind the past:

We had a hard road to travel, but our day is coming fast;

For God is for the right, and we have no need to fear:

The Union must be saved by the colored volunteer.

(Some sources add the following verse, but it does not appear in The Negro in the American Rebellion (1867), and I don't have access to the original source, the Boston Transcript. I can't confirm its authenticity at the moment, but I don't doubt that it may be original — poems in 19th century newspapers generally go on at some length.)

Then here is to the 54th, which has been nobly tried,

They were willing, they were ready, with their bayonets by their side,

Colonel Shaw led them on and he had no cause to fear,

About the courage of the colored volunteer.

Get Off the Track

Today's happy news from California and Melissa McEwan's comment about hearing "equality coming down the tracks" reminds me of one of my favorite Civil War-era songs: "Get Off the Track." It has a driving rhythm, reminiscent of a train barreling down the track, and reinforcing the idea that progress is irresistible. I'm not sure if I agree with that as an historical philosophy, but it makes for a good song.

"Get Off the Track"
by the Hutchinson Family

Ho! the car emancipation
Rides majestic through our nation,
Bearing on its train the story,
Liberty! a nation's glory.
Roll it along! Roll it along!
Roll it along, through the nation,
Freedom's car, Emancipation.

Men of various predilections
Frightened, run in all directions,
Merchants, editors, physicians,
Lawyers, priests, and politicians,
Get out of the way! Get out of the way!
Get out of the way, every station,
Clear the track for Emancipation.

Let the ministers and churches
Leave behind sectarian lurches,
Jump on board the car of freedom,
Ere it be too late to need them.
Sound the alarm! Sound the alarm!
Sound the alarm! Pulpits thunder,
Ere too late you see your blunder.

All true friends of Emancipation,
Haste to freedom's railroad station,
Quick, into the cars get seated;
All is ready and completed.
Put on the steam! Put on the steam!
Put on the steam! all are crying,
While the liberty flags are flying.

Hear the mighty car-wheels humming,
Now, look out! the engine's coming!
Church- and statesmen hear the thunder,
Clear the track or you'll fall under.
Get off the track! Get off the track!
Get off the track! all are singing,
While the Liberty Bell is ringing.

On triumphant, see them bearing,
Through sectarian rubbish tearing;
The bell and whistle and the steaming
Startle thousands from their dreaming.
Look out for the cars! Look out for the cars!
Look out for the cars! while the bell rings,
Ere the sound your funeral knell rings.

See the people run to meet us!
At the depots, thousands greet us;
All take seats with exultation,
In the car, Emancipation.
Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
Huzzah! Huzzah! Emancipation
Soon will bless our happy nation!

To Canaan!

Today, I came across the most pompous Civil War song I've ever found, which is saying a lot. This song appeared in the Boston Evening Transcript on August 2, 1862.

I'm always fascinated by New Englanders' identification with the Old Testament Israelites, and this is evidence that it did not end in the 17th century. As much as we debate republicanism vs. liberalism, the fact is that many people in 18th and even 19th-century America placed themselves in a Biblical landscape.

"To Canaan" uses the Old Testament language fluently, but some of the implications are fairly disturbing if you carry the analogy far enough. For one thing, the song positions the Union armies as Jews during the Exodus, on their way to Canaan after being released from slavery in Egypt. What will they do when they get to Canaan? Well, in the Bible, they slaughter every man, woman, child, and animal they can find. That can't have been comforting to Southerners.

My favorite line is this pronouncement on the American flag:

"What God has woven in his loom let no man rend in twain!"

To Canaan!
(A Song of the Six Hundred Thousand)

Where are you going soldiers, with banner, gun and sword?
We're marching South to Canaan to battle for the Lord!
What captain leads your armies along the rebel coasts?
The Mighty One of Israel, His name is Lord of Hosts!
To Canaan, to Canaan, the Lord has led us forth,
To blow before the heathen walls the trumpets of the North.

What flag is this you carry along the sea and shore?
The same our grandsires lifted up, the same our fathers bore!
In many a battle's tempest it shed the crimson rain —
What God has woven in his loom, let no man rend in twain!
To Canaan, to Canaan, the Lord has led us forth,
To plant upon the rebel towers the banners of the North!

What troop is this that follows, all armed with picks and spades?
These are the swarthy bondsmen, the iron-skin brigades!
They'll pile up Freedom's breastwork, they'll scoop out rebels' graves;
Who then will be their owner and march them off for slaves?
To Canaan, to Canaan, the Lord has led us forth,
To strike upon the captive's chains the hammers of the North.

What song is this you're singing? The same that Israel sung
When Moses led the mighty choir, and Miriam's timbrels rung!
To Canaan! To Canaan! The priests and maidens cried;
To Canaan! To Canaan! The people's voice replied.
To Canaan, to Canaan, the Lord has led us forth,
To thunder through its adder-dens the anthems of the North.

When Canaan's hosts are scattered and all her walls lie flat,
What follows next in order? The Lord will see to that!
We'll break the tyrant's sceptre, we'll build the people's throne,
When half the world is Freedom's, then all the world's our own!
To Canaan, to Canaan, the Lord has led us forth,
To sweep the rebel threshing-floors, a whirlwind from the North.

From the Archives

Well, ok, not really this is not really from "the archives," unless you count Google Books.

In my wanderings, I came across an 1864 book called Songs of the Soldiers that includes the fabulous "Marching Song of the First Arkansas," which the editor attributes to Capt. Lindley Miller. Miller, a white officer, served with the 1st Arkansas U.S.C.T and is said to have written the song, though his comments suggest that he may have transcribed and submitted it rather than authoring it. The editor includes this footnote:

Captain Miller says the "boys" sing the song on dress-parade with an effect which can hardly be described; and he adds that, "while it is not very conservative, it will do to fight with."

While it is possible that Miller wrote the song either alone or in collaboration with some of his comrades, these remarks seem to indicate that he heard his troops singing, thought the song was worth writing down, and sent his version to the editors of the book. If this is indeed the case, I wonder whether there may have been other, even less "conservative," verses that Miller either did not hear or did not transcribe. Oh, to be a fly on that parade ground!

Look past the dialect and see the power, anger, and pride:

Marching Song of the First Arkansas

OH! we're de bully soldiers ob de "First of Arkansas,"
We are fightin' for de Union, we are fightin' for de law,
We can hit a Rebel furder dan a white man eber saw,
As we go marchin' on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah, &c.

See dar! above de center, where de flag is wavin bright,
We are goin' out of slavery; we are bound for Freedom's light,
We mean to show Jeff Davis how de Africans can fight!
As we go marchin' on.

We hab done wid hoein' cotton, we hab done wid hoein' corn,
We are colored Yankee soldiers now, as sure as you are born;
When de massas hear us yellin' dey'll tink its Gabriel's horn,
As we go marchin' on.

Dey will had to pay us wages, de wages ob their sin,
Dey will had to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin,
Dey will had to give us house-room, or de roof shall tumble in!
As we go marchin' on.

We heard de proclamation, massa hush it as he will;
De bird he sing it to us, hoppin' on de cotton-hill,
And de possum up de gum tree, he could n't keep it still,
As he went climbing on.

Dey said, "Now colored bredren, you shall be forever free,
From de first ob January, eighteen hundred sixty-three;"
We heard it in de riber goin' rushin' to de sea,
As it went soundin' on.

Father Abraham has spoken, and de message has been sent,
De prison-doors he opened, and out de pris'ners went,
To join de sable army ob de "African descent,"
As we go marchin' on.

Den fall in, colored bredren, you'd better do it soon;
Don't you hear de drum a beatin' de Yankee Doodle tune?
We are wid you now dis mornin', we'll be far away at noon,
As we go marchin' on.

My favorite line is from verse 6: "We heard it in de riber goin' rushin' to de sea." Although this could mean many things, and is, in part, a continuation of the natural imagery in verse 5, I think this line could also be read as referring to the "river" of self-emancipating slaves who heard about the Emancipation Proclamation when they were already part of an unstoppable movement.

What I like best about this song is that is far cleverer than most of the musical dreck that was published during the Civil War. Most of the songs and poems of the period were pretentious, glib schlock, but this song has more than one wry turn of phrase. My favorite is, "Dey will had to pay us wages, de wages ob their sin," which starts out as simple declaration of the privileges of free labor, and then pivots on the synonym and ends Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death." They'll take their money with a side of righteous revenge, thankyouverymuch.

Wordplay aside, the song's imagery is powerful. In verses 5 and 6, the whole world seems to be rejoicing over emancipation. I also like the image of floods of freemen streaming out of prison and straight to the recruitment office.

After finding this, I seemed to remember hearing a recording of this song many years ago. I poked around a little and found an mp3 on iTunes from Sparky and Rhonda Rucker's "The Blue and Gray in Black and White." As soon as I heard it, I recognized it - my parents must have a copy of the cassette somewhere. Check it out - it's worth hearing.