Hail to the Redskins Hail to the Redskins is the fight song for the Washington Redskins . It was written sometime between 1937 and 1938 and was performed for the first time on August 17 , 1938 . The music composed by the Redskins team band leader , Barnee Breeskin , and the lyrics were written by Corinne Griffith , the wife of Redskins founder and owner George Preston Marshall . History . In 1937 , Marshall moved the Redskins from Boston to Washington . With this move and the introduction of his team to the nation ' s capital , Marshall commissioned a 110 member band to provide the new fans with the " pomp and circumstance " and " pageantry " of a public victory parade . Marshall stated that he wanted to his team and their games to emulate the spectacle of the Roman Gladiators at the Coliseum . He also wanted to incorporate elements of the college football experience into the pro game . He oufitted the band with $ 25 , 000 worth of uniforms and instruments and asked the band leader , Barnee Breeskin , to compose a fight song worthy of such a team of gladiators and warriors . The original lyrics were written to reflect the native American warrior imagery of the team as the Redskins . The lyrics were later reworked to be less offensive to contemporary sensibilities . Nonetheless , the fight song is one of the oldest football fight songs in all of American professional football . " Hail to the Redskins " is the second oldest fight song for a professional American football team ; the oldest fight song is " Go ! You Packers ! Go ! " , composed in 1931 . During the 1938 season the Redskins played their new fight song for fans in attendance at the games as they played the Philadelphia Eagles , the Brooklyn Dodgers , the Cleveland Rams , the New York Giants , the Detroit Lions , the Pittsburgh Pirates , and the Chicago Bears football teams . Changes to the lyrics . References to Dixie . The song ' s original first stanza ended with the line " Fight for old Dixie " . The original version of the song also closed to the open of the well known southern folk song , " Dixie " . This phrase has since been replaced with " Fight for ol ' D . C . ! " Dixie refers to the American South and the Dixie reference may seem confusing to those unfamiliar with the history of the NFL . Washington , D . C . is very close to the Mason - Dixon line ( which by itself is not an indicator of geographic or cultural identity ) , far from the center of the American South , but was considered to be a part of the South until the 20th Century . Furthermore , in the late 1930s when " Hail to the Redskins " came into use , the Redskins were the favored team of the South , as at the time they were the southernmost team in the league . Dallas Cowboys controversy . When the NFL began considering expansion to Texas , Marshall strongly opposed the move , as he had enjoyed a monopoly in the South for three decades ( apart from the one - year appearance of the Dallas Texans in 1952 ) . Potential owner Clint Murchison , who was trying to bring the NFL to Dallas , bought the rights to " Hail to the Redskins " from a disgruntled Breeskin and threatened to prevent Marshall from playing it at games . Marshall agreed to back Murchison ' s bid , Murchison gave him back the rights to the song , and the Dallas Cowboys were born . Native American stereotypes . The original lyrics also perpetuated stereotypes of Native Americans . The second stanza of the original version exhorted the team to " scalp " their opponents , and invoked more stereotypes with lines like " we want heap more ! " Those phrases have since been replaced with standard football play references like " run or pass or score , we want a lot more " . Despite these changes , some Native American groups still take offense to the lyrics in their present form . First , the song references the team name , Redskins . There has been considerable debate over whether the term " redskin " is a racial slur against Native Americans . Second , the line " braves on the warpath " is another alleged stereotype , similar to the removed " scalping " reference . Both phrases also refer back to the team ' s origin in Boston , as the team was named after the Boston Braves . The updated version is seen as less offensive . It remains one of the most popular and well - known fight song s in the NFL . For example , on November 30 , 1972 The Seldom Scene released on Rebel Records a version of the song lasting 2 : 02 which originally appeared as a 45rpm record but that is now readily available as an MP3 download from mainstream outlets such as amazon . com . Other usage . The LG Twins of the Korean Baseball Organization use the tune of " Hail to the Redskins " in their own fight song .