Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-30
SONGS OF THE WAR.
A Very Interesting Article Telling HOW
and Where They Were Sung,

On March 10, 1852, the Army of the Po-
tomac was on its march to Manassas
junction. The movement was in echelon
by columns of fours and in battalion. The
army was in fine spirits and magnificent
condition and discipline. Every officer
and man was in his place in the line.
Gen. Mcclellan aud his staff, among whom
were the Prince de Joinville and the
Comte de Paris, rode in the advance, and
among the MAJOR generals were Sumner
Helntzelman, Banks, Franklin and 9TH
ers, whose names are engraved in AmerI-
can history. Thirty-four brigadier gener-
ais, among whom were Meade and kear-
ney. and dozen more who died major
generals, and many still living, rode along
in silence and meditation.
just as the head OF the column de-
bouched into the village of Vienna, Fair
fax county, Va, soldier in one of the
leading regiments began TO sing in a Wig
OrOus, manly voice, "John Browns body
lies moulderlng in the ground, but his
soul goes marching on"
In one minute, as if by a preconcerted
signal, the song went down the line, and
$4,000 men were singing hozanna more
tremendous and inspiring than Cruces
Address" or 1.-The Campbells are Com
ing.''
The effect was electrical. Gen. McClel-
Ian and the officers of his staff instantly
removed their caps, and all the officers In
the line, except very few. joined in the
chorus, until the woods of Fairfax echoed
and rang with the mighty refrain, and
the villagers of Vienna ran into their
yards aad houses, to gaze, awe-strcken
and terrified, on the grandest spectacle Of
their lives.
Some of the men in the ranks were so
carried away by enthusiasm that they
sprang out OF the line, and, putting their
caps on their bayOnets, shouted out the
chorus again and again. 1t was many
minutes before thorough quiet was re-
stored, and from that tine the Army of
the Potomac was singing, as well as a
hghting organization.
The boys went into many a headlong
charge to the tune of ''Cheer, Boys,
Cheerr" and "When Johnny Comes
Marching Home Again."
The lively airs were often varied with
'Bonnie Eloise," "The Girl Lett Behind
Me-" or ''Mother, is the Battle Oyer?"
and when This Cruel War is Over"
This diversion Of singing was one that
almost every officer permitted and en-
cOuraged, and woe to the martinez who
attempted to check it. He was at once
the victim OF dislike and OF the practical
joker.
In the Sixth Wisconsin Regiment there
was a Corporal Bailey, noble fellow,
but one who had strict opinions of disci-
pline. Poor Bailey attem pted on one or
two occasions to stop the boys singinging
on guard and other duty in camp. From
then to the day he died he was known as
''Balaam" and ''BeeliX," but OfteDest as
"Balaam" and "Balaam's Donkey"
Jasper Chestnut, the gallant color SER
geant of the Sixth, who was mOrtally
a al
ing "Dixie," wen Hang JEFF Davis on a
Sour Apple Tree" or some other lively
air, and when he died in the old hospital
at Frederick city more than one brave
man wept. After the battle, after he was
carried off the field, "Wcll. boys" said
he, with a comical smile, ''we have done
we'll, and that's about all we have done"
Brave, true-hearted Chestnut He left a
gentle heart to mourn for his untimely
death, and, if report says true, she, like
0phelia, "Let concealmeut like worm
i the bud prey on her damask cheek" I'M
til in short year or two she followed him
to the tomb.
Sergeant Chapman, of the same regi-
ment, was another of the singing boys of
the "Old Sixth' regiment. He, like
Chestnut, left sweetheart in Prairie du
Chen to weep for him when he was killed
at Gettysburg, the day after he was pro-
On the battlefield OF the Wilderness the
writer saw boy OF II, member of the
Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, lie down on
a grassy bank and sing "Raly, Bows,
Rally" and ten minutes after go into the
fight on run, only to stagger back NOR
tally hurt, gasping out with his dying
breath, "Boys, send my money to
mother"
Volumes might be written of the hero
-, ct
Blue and the songs they sung, which. to
their honor be it said, were rarely, if at
all, tinged with any impurity OF word or
thought.
The Confederate soldiers sang. too, and
many of the songs Of the war were sung
by both armies in common. "The Old
Folks at Home," "DiXie," "My Old Ken
lucky Home" and even the ''Bonny Blue
Flag" and maryland, My Maryland"
were often sung by the men Of both armies
inthe hearing of each other.
Mr., Frank Laselle, then of W Washington,
and now of San Francisco, sold in the AZ
my of the Potomac during the war more
than a half million of the beautiful bal
lads and songs of that time
One Of the pickets of a new regiment
was once singing a song to keep up his
spirits. when a bullet wbistled past in
the darkness. "Say, gOl darn YOU"
shouted inc TbcIulls sup budt Will YER
but the song stopped abruptly till morn
ing.
Song singing was the darling recreation
OF the men in both armies, and hardly
regiment could be found that did not
possess one or more organized singing
''circles," and here officer and private
were held of one value, the distinctions
Of rank and position being for the moment
laid aside.
Gen. Meade dismounted from his horse
just before the fight began at the Wilder
ness 10 listen TO song, and Gen. Grant
would often pause, as he was riding over
the field, In the lull Of the storm, to listen
TO some simple dity sung by some private
soldier, and then ride silently away.
Who can tell how much the beautiful
and patriotic songs Of America have done
TO inspire her sons 20 fight her battles
and win her victories from revolutionary
times till now? and no country on earth
can boast OF a collection Of peculiarly
national songs more exalted in sentiment
or rhythm than this sweet land or ours.
pOop Old Marshal Bazafue.