Riding a Raid

 

 

Something for the weekend.  Riding a Raid, sung by Bobby Horton, the man who has dedicated his life to bringing Civil War music to modern audiences.  Stuart and his cavalry troopers were the glamor boys of the Army of the Northern Virginia.  Twice they rode around the Army of the Potomac, and until 1863 they completely dominated the Union cavalry, although they were usually heavily outnumbered on the battlefield.  This song captures well the spirit of the cavaliers in grey.

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The Wearing of the Grey

Something for the weekend.  The Wearing of the Grey sung  by Bobby Horton who has waged a one man battle to bring the music of the Civil War to modern audiences.

 

“The fearful struggle’s ended now, and peace smiles on our land
And though we’ve yielded, we have proved ourselves a faithful band.
We fought them long, we fought them well, we fought them night and day
And bravely struggled for our rights while wearin’ of the Grey!

And now that we have ceased to fight and pledged our sacred word
That we against the Union’s might no more will draw the sword
We feel despite the sneers of those who never smelled the fray
That we’ve a manly honest right to wearin’ of the Grey.

Our Cause is lost, no more we fight ‘gainst overwhelmin’ power.
All wearied are our limbs and drenched with many a battle shower.
We feign would rest for want of strength and yield them up the day
And lower the flag so proudly borne while wearin’ of the Grey.

Defeat is not dishonor; No, of honor not bereft.
We should thank God that in our breast this priceless boon is left.
And though we weep tis for those braves who stood in proud array
Beneath our flag and nobly died while wearin’ of the Grey.

When in the ranks of war we stood and faced the deadly hail
Our simple suits of Grey composed our only coats of mail.
And on those awful hours that marked the bloody battle day
In memory we will still be seen a wearin’ of the Grey.

Oh, should we reach that glorious place where waits the sparklin’ crown
For everyone who for the right his soldier’s life lay down,
God grant to us the privilege upon that happy day
Of clasping hands with those who fell a wearin’ of the Grey.”

Upidee Song

Something for the weekend.  The Upidee Song sung by Bobby Horton, who has waged a one man crusade to bring Civil War music to modern audiences.  I doubt that there is anyone who has been in the military who would not sympathize with the anti reville sentiments of this song!  A popular song among the troops on both sides in the War, it is actually pre-War, written in 1859.

The Reluctant Conscript

 

Something for the weekend.  The Reluctant Conscript performed by Bobby Horton who has waged a one man crusade to bring Civil War era music to modern audiences.  This song is typical of the type of humorous songs sung by soldiers on both sides.    Civil War soldiers endured hardships and casualties that modern students of that conflict can only regard as appalling.  However, the amazing thing is the good humor that those very brave men also displayed, often directed against themselves.  We stand on the shoulders of giants, and among those giants are a lot of 18-20 young men clad in blue and gray, many of whom did not get any older, and who overwhelmingly met their fates with courage and a type of laughing gallantry that is all too foreign to our debased times.

The Surrender of Cornwallis

 

Something for the weekend.  The Surrender of Cornwallis to the tune of The British Grenadiers sung by Bobby Horton.  Bonus: World Turned Upside Down song from Hamilton:

 

Poor Kitty Popcorn

 

 

Something for the weekend.  One of the more bizarre songs to arise from our Civil War:  Poor Kitty Popcorn.  Sung by Bobby Horton who has a talent for resurrecting even the most obscure of Civil War tunes.

Stand Up For Uncle Sam My Boys

 

 

Something for the weekend.  Stand Up For Uncle Sam My Boys sung by Bobby Horton who has waged a one man crusade to bring Civil War music to modern audiences.  A pro-Union song written in 1861 by that tireless writer of Civil War tunes George F. Root.  Sadly its patriotism may seem over the top to modern audiences.  Not so to most of the fighting men on both sides during the Civil War who liked their songs about the War to be lively and very patriotic.

Lincoln and Liberty Too

The low clown out of the prairies, the ape-buffoon,

The small-town lawyer, the crude small-time politician,

State-character but comparative failure at forty

In spite of ambition enough for twenty Caesars,

Honesty rare as a man without self-pity,

Kindness as large and plain as a prairie wind,

And a self-confidence like an iron-bar:

This Lincoln, President now by the grace of luck,

Disunion, politics, Douglas and a few speeches

Which make the monumental booming of Webster

Sound empty as the belly of a burst drum.

Stephen Vincent Benet, John Brown’s Body

Something for the weekend.  Lincoln and Liberty Too, the most stirring campaign song in American history, sung by Bobby Horton who has waged a one man crusade to bring Civil War music to modern audiences.  Mr. Lincoln’s birthday is on Monday which this year coincides with the state holiday in Illinois.  I always close down the law mines on that day.  Lincoln used to say that Henry Clay was his ideal of a statesman and for me Abraham Lincoln has always filled that role.  Presidents come and Presidents go, but Washington and Lincoln remain, the fixed stars of the better angels of our natures.

To Canaan

 

 

Something for the weekend.  To Canaan.   One of the more bloodthirsty songs of our Civil War, it is based on this poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, published in 1862:

O’, I’m a Good Old Rebel

 

Something for the weekend.  O’, I’m a Good Old Rebel by Major James Randolph.  When it was published in Louisiana in 1866 it bore an ironic dedication to Radical Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens.  This rendition is sung by Bobby Horton, who has fought a one man crusade to bring Civil War music to modern audiences.  It is the most moving rendition I have heard of this song, with Horton conveying well the bitterness and despair felt by almost all Confederates after the conclusion of the War.  The author served on the staff of General J.E.B. Stuart.  The song has always been popular in the South and was a favorite of Queen Victoria’s son, the future Edward VII, who referred to it as “that fine American song with cuss words in it.”