The Riflemen s Song at Bennington Removed However an isolated earlier use of this term relating to the American War of Independence appears in The Riflemen s Song at Bennington an old folk song that supposedly goes back to the 1770s Which does indeed refer to the 1777 Bennington Battle but there is nothing to date the song particularly the Red Coat version Possibly the original lyric was Why come ye hither stranger Your mind what madness fills In our valleys there is danger And danger on the hills which seems to have become Why come ye hither Redcoats your mind what madness fills In our valleys there is danger and there s danger on our hills for the Burl Ives collection Historical America in Song from 1950 But without definite sources it reads like WP OR