Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-07-11
ORIGIN OF YANKEE"

In one sense nr another the word
Yankee" or "Yanky," lie TO be found
in British litsrAfute for at least two
centuries, and il is pretty clearly de-
fined, but the origin OF its application
TO tine New Highlander is the despair OF
phiiologists. FTum time to time, for
more than 100 years. explanations have
been advanced for this use Of the word,
but, though plausible, they have not
passed beyond the stage OF speculation
or conjecture.
The earliest known instance of its
use by an American is that cited uy the
late DR.. Trumbull. in 1857, from
poem written by an American, hut
published in London in l765. The
dste OF his Instance OF the use OF the
word, together with the ordinary ac-
Compartment Of Doodle" or Doodle
Doo''-an old English refrain renders
/ plausible The theory rhat ths word
Yankee was brought to this country
by the British regulars. who came
hither TO fight the Canadians in the
last great war with France. That the
tune of Yankee Doodle. as martial
music, was played by the English as
early as l7T5 appears by the accounts
of the Battle OF Lexington. from which
tine tradition certainly connects it
with the. tune we now know by that
name. 1t is also certain that the
phrase Yankee Doodle'i appears in
40 American stage play in 1861. and
that the Yankee Doodle Song" was
the martial music OF the British forces
that came 10 Boston in l76s TO quell
the disturbances provoked by the
Stamp Act This tune presumably
was the same that was played at Lex
ington seEen years later.
Soon after the commencement OF hos
Utilities in tina American Revolution the
word Yankee" and the tune of
Yankee Doodle" seem to have got a
fooihold here. for as early as February
18th, lie. il is recorded that an
American privateer called the Yankee
Hero, which about four months later
was captured by the British, had al
ready brought a valuabls prize into
Newburyport, AID upon The caritula.
tion Of Burgoyne the next year, the
/ victorious army saiuted the conquered
troops of Burgcyne with ths tune Of
Yankee Doodle" as they proceeded
through the American camp near Fish
Creek TO take up the line Of march TO
Cambridge.
| venture the opinion that both the
tune and the words may yet be found
to have been one of the ephemeral airs,
| popular in London, which the soldiers
OF Loudon, a bercrombie Hr Amherst
took with them on their departure for
America.
One of Boston bright scholars, noted
for his perseverance, and tine wide range
and thoroughness OF bis pathological
/ I'M r. - 80, l,sa
subject with ardor, ind We may hope
that ere long, both the verses and the
music OF Yankee Doodle which
Rear Admiral Preble calls "a musical
vagabopd," and "a literary Bohe-
milan, have been traced to their origi-
nal starting place.
Though applied by our enemies in
derision, IL ssem to have besn adopted
by the Americans In a spirit OF bravado.
after they had wen their first signal
victories. Thus, in the ballad. THE
Fall OF Burgoyne, supposed to have
been composed by Row. Wheeler Case
in IT'S, The rhymester exolnims:
Pris'ners to rebels, Yankees. too,
o, meriifyipg strokei
II the above conjecture as to the first
application of the word Is correct, and
those who were first called Yankees
were the rank and file of the colonial
forces by whom the invaders were con
fronted, 1t follows that the name is not
exclusively applicable to persons of
purely English descent. On the con
trary, 1t is impossible to fairly appor-
ton the honor and glory Of political
and military achievement in the Ameri-
can Revolution without awarding an
| oh ~
and family traditions belong TO Ireland,
as well as to Great britain and the con
tinent Of Europe.
Let anyone try to imagine what the
history Of Boston would be without
counting the descendants OF the fiugue-
Notes.-The Bowdoins, the Reveres, the
Fanueils, the Obardous, the Brimmere,
the JohonDots and the Sigourneys. or
how the story Of the revolution would
read without the mention of Molineau
or Knox, a Stark, a Sullivan, a Bow
doin OF a Revere and he will be con
viuced that an important ingredient OF
the Yankee character has been over
looked by the historian who iinagines
that it was wholly deduced from indi-
genous antecedeuts. Freueau, OF Hugue.
not stock, who wrote the lyrics OF
liberty, and Paine, the Quaker agnos.
tic, who eloquently proclaimed the
rights OF man, and Alexander Hamil-
ton, of West Indian, of Scotch and
Hueuenot extraction. who inspired
the Federal Constitution, contt ibuted
quite as much to The symmetry of the
ideal Of the Yankee as did Samuel
Adams, the chief promoter of indie
peEdence, and the ''last of the Puri-
tans. 4"
Mankind are peryerse in their notions
OF what constitutes the type OF race
or class. Look, for instance, at the
typical Yankee, as universally por-
trayed in the illustrated periodicals OF
the day. Who ever saw or heard de.
scribed by a credible witness such a
being in New Englandg 1t was not
until our Northern armies, during the
Civil War, had penetrated the rural
districts OF Tennessee and Kentucky
that the prototype of this ideal was
known to eyist anywhere, EXCEPT in
imagination. Yet tine honest fellow in
the swallow tail coat, the bell crowned
hat, the goatee and strapped pantaloons
was go far from the Northern standard
that ne had never seen the Stars and
Stripes, never celebrated a Fourth of
July and had no traditions to recount
of British aggression except the battle
of New Orleans.
| Some have supposed that the peculiar
information and pronunciation of New
Englanders in certain rural districts
are peculiar Yankee characteristics,
but these who so imagine have proba-
bly, never talked with the high bred
Londoner-not the mere cockney. hut
the real English gentleman, who asks