St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-27
ORIGIN OF SOME OF OUR POPULAR SONGS.
Wy GENERAL HoRATIo c. KING. Y

the war, but DO not recall having seen any
connected account of the melodies which
have sprung up since the close of the great
struggle, and with which the Loyal Legion
more especially is wont to revive old MEM
cries and make the welkin ring" with tones
perhaps trife more cracked than those of
thirty years ago, but not less vigorous and
enthusiastic. The Loyal Legion, by the way,
which is an abbreviation of the Military
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United
States" was engendered in the closing year
of the war in the active brain of Colonel
Samuel B. Wylie Mitchell, of Philadelphia,
now deceased, who had genius for organi-
cation. I knew him while in college as the
organizer of the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity,
and long afterwards when he was q mason,
and belonged to numerous other secret or
ganizations-or, as he faeetiously remarked
to me, belonged to almost everything but
Sfrs Mitchell" The Legion is composed of
officers of the army and navy who served in
the war; and their eldest descendants in the
male line, very much like the Revolutionary
order of the Cincinnati" Each State is en-
titled to one commandery, and there are
communicates now in Maine, Massachusetts,
New York, Pennsylvania, District Of Column
bia. Ohio Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa.
Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas,
Nebraska, Colorado, California, Oregon and
Washington, aggregating about 1000 MEM
bers.
The first ''Hymn Book" as it is some
times called, originated with the New York
Commandery, and, like Topsy, was not ''born,
out growed" The writer was a charter
member of the commandery and one of its
earliest recorders-and at our meetings,
which were followed by modest lunch,
there was general desire to sing, but no
one could recall the Words So out of this
necessity grew first a little eight page leafet
containing stJohn Brown" Marching
Through Georgia" Orally Round the Flag,
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" ''Tenting on the
Old Camp Ground" and ''When this Cruel
War is Over" With a great fondness for
music and some little amateur attainments
( in that direction, which had enlivened many
an otherwise dull hour through my three
years war service, encouraged this desire,
and installed myself at the piano as 'smusi-
cal director" position not recognized by
the constitution, but which I have been
graciously permitted to occupy for about
twenty-eight years. handsome baton,
gold-mounted and appropriately inscribed,
presented to me by the commandery, is
auasi-recognition of my title to the Office.
b One of our earliest companions was Charles
G. Halpine, better known to literature as
SMILES O'ReiIly." Halpine had genius for
war melodies as well as for fighting. Hewas
born in the county of Meath, Ireland, was
educated at Trinity College, Dublin, came to
: New York in 1852 and secured employment
on the Herald. Later on, in 1856, he, in COM
pany with A. Oakley Hall, conducted the
New York Leader, contributing also to the
New York Tribune, among other things the
lyric commencing -1
= ''Tear down the Haunting ie," k{T
Half-mast the starry flag" H.
for VII ich Greeley received the credit, though
SO far as I know, he never wrote line Of
rhyme in his life. 1t was while at Hilton
Head, In General Hunters command, that he
tAwrote the burlesque and other poems in the
lseharacter of "N1iles O'Reilly," an Irish pri-
.-Fate In 1864 he resigned with the brevet of
acknowledgement of volunteers, and died in
1868. The best known of his poems is eWe
Have Drunk from the Same Canteen," which
Is so familiar that need quote but a single
verse: -...--
There are bonds of all sorts in this world Of
ours,
-Fetters of friendship and ties of flowers, -
And true lovers knots, ween:
y The girl and the boy are bound by a kiss,
But there's never a bond, old friend, like
= this,
We have drunk from the same canteen.
It has place in the 'Hymn Book"
Another beautiful song which found
responsive echo in the hearts of all old
soldiers on both sides of the great contro-
versy is by the Hon. Francis M. Finch, now
Judge of the Court of Appeals, of New York,
and appropriately welded to music by the
sweet singer Harrison Willard, himself an
officer of volunteers and member of the
New York Commandery. It is a potent pro-
test against sectionalism, and l give it
entire:
By the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fed,
Ehere the blades of the grave-grass culver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead,
From the silence of sorrowful hours
. The desolate mourners go,
q lovingly laden with flowers,
Alike for the friend and the foot
CHORUS. :.
D. Under the sod and the dew, \
WdlCiuS Cllo uUSluouC
Under the roses, the Blue,
Under the lilies, the Gray.
So, with an equal splendor, {
The morning sun rays fall,
With a touch impartially tender
On the blossoms blooming for all;
So sadly, but not with upbraiding,
The generous deed was done;
In the storm of the years that are fading,
No Drawer battle was won<
= -. CHORUS.
A Under the sod and the dew,
e. Waiting the Judgment Day
ikEsE Under the blossoms, the Blue,
e. Under the garlands, the Gray
Do, when the summer calleth,
On forest and field of grain,
With an equal murmur falleth
- The cooling drips of the rain;
No more shall the war cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red; So
hey Danish our anger forever
!. When they laurel the graves of our
= dead!
=: CHORUS.
'ezsD Under the sod and the dew,
= Waiting the Judgment Day,
Love and tears, for the Blue,
Tears and love, for the Gray.
The poet laureate par excellence of the
same commandery was General James Nc
Quade, of Utica, New York. He was colonel
of the Fourteenth New York mot the Brook
lyn Fourteenth). At the close of the
war he was breveted brigadier and major
general of volunteers. His ready wit, his
melodious voice and his unfailing good
nature made him a prime favorite in every