Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1883-07-06

"Yes, Wen rally round the flag, boys.
| Well rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry Of freedom.
We will rally from the hillside,
Well gather from the plain.
Shouting the battle cry OF freedom!"
There is an adaptability to the air o
this song which makes it available Il
many words. The soldiers were font
of setting the words of '.Mary had lit
tie lamb" to it, with ludicrous effect
As for instance:
Mary had little lamb,
IN fleece was white rs snow,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
And every place that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom"
and so on. During the terrible fight
ing in the Wilderness on the 9Th of May,
1864, brigade of the Ninth Corps,
having broken the enemy's line by an
assault, became exposed to q flank at
tack, and was driven back in disorder
with heavy loss. They retreated but q
few hundred yards, however, reformed,
and again confronted the enemy. just
then some gallant fellow in the ranks Of
the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania began to
sing:
"we'n rally round the flag, boys,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom"
The refrain was caught up instantly
by the entire regiment, and by the
Thirty-sixth Massachusetts,, next in line.
There the grim ranks stood at bay in
the deadly thicket. The air was filled
with the crackle and smoke of burning
underbrush, the pitiful cries of the
wounded, the rattle of musketry, and the
shouts of command; but. above all, an
swering the exultant yells of the enemy,
rose the inspiring chorus:
'The Union forever, hurrah, boys. hurrah,
Down with the traitor and up with the star!
And Wen rally round the flag, boys,
Rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom"
One of the army songs, which has be-
came as popular in England as it is in
this country, is published as having
been written and composed by Louis
Lambert. This is a nom de plane for
P. 7. Gilmore. To be sure the words
do not amount to much, and there is
something disagreeable to a well-regg-
ulated temperance mind like our own
in being obliged to melodiously inform
the public that
''We'n all drink stone blind
When Johnny comes marching home"
but this tune is of the rollicking, devil
may-care order that is very catching.
The fact is, Gilmore built.up his words
to suit his air, on the same principle
that in Virginia they invariably build
the chimney first, and then erect the
house against it. The air was an inspir-
alton, but the words might be classified
as rhymes without reason.
Poor Miles O'Reilley Charles G. Hal
pine) set to the Irish air of 1.-The Low
Backed Car" the words of the humor-
GUS song of which we here give the first
verse, and we have heard him sing it
with fine effect:
Some tell us tits a burning shame
To make the naygurs fight,
An that the thrade of being kilt
Belong but to the white;
But a8 for me, upon my SOull
So liberal are We here,
I'll let Sambo be murdered In place of myself
On every day in the yearl
On every day in the year. boys
And every hour in the day,
The right to be kilt I'll divide wild him,
An divil a word I'll say.
All, poor Charley! He was the life
of many campfire was Private Miles
OReilley, and much of the best and
raciest literature of the war came from
his gifted pen.
1.-The Star Spangled Banner will
ever rank as the first of American war
songs, and linked with it will be Hail,
Columbia, " America" and sThe Red,
White and Blue" We are not certain
that this latter is an American song. 1t
has Ssen claimed by the English under
the title Britannia, the Gem of the
Ocean" The first person we ever heard
sing it was the late Edward L. Daven-
port, and he once informed US that he
got the song in the mother land. Hail;
Columbia" was set by its author, Judge
to the air of 1.-The Presi-
dents March," which somebody had
in honor of Washington; but
the words of 1.-THE Star Spangled Ban
ner" are sung to an old English bac-
chanalian air. ITO Anacreon in Heav-
en-" while the Rev. Mr.. Smiths '.My
Country. it's of Thee" goes to the air
of ''God Save the Queen" The Ma
tionA hymn, with appropriate music,
is yet to be written. Keller's hymn
does not fill the bill, nor indeed does
Julius Eichberg's or that ambitious pro-
duction which Gilmore gave to the coun-
ny two or three years since.
We have touched but lightly on few
# the soldiers songs. Did one go into
he matter to any great extent there GER
;ainly would not be sufiiciency of
pace in this edition of the Traveller to
us. While there was
,lenty of enduring poetry written during
he war, the number of really merito-
'ious songs that were given birth to
we're few, indeed. On the whole, we
re inclined to think that in this respect
he South was in advance of us, for we
Mrs. Howe's noble effort
!side) do not possess single song of
he Rebellion at all comparable to
Maryland, My Maryland, and the air
o which it is sung is well fitted to the
rords. We remember once having
card it sung under circumstances that,
Or the time, made US fancy it was the
weetest thing we ever listened to. We
nd reached Frederick City, in Mary
and. after distressing forced march,
alike to man and beast, and
n going into bivouac the staff to which
70 were attached took up their quarters
n tho piazza Of = lonely mansion. and
here. wrapping themselves in their
lankets, With their saddles for pillows,