1851, R. Bishop Buckley (1826-1867) [piano: F.D. Benteen]
The song was published as: “an Ethiopian Song for the Piano-Forte by George P. Knauff”, but most researchers credit Buckley with its composition. The delightful melody lends itself easily to parody and was used by politicians, propagandists and soldiers, alike.
18--, C. Brown [Stratton Military Band Journal]
Musicologist Sigmund Spaeth credits this tune to Charles E. Pratt with words by William H. Lingard.
Verse: The sweetest thing in life, (And no one dare say nay) On a Saturday afternoon, Is walking down Broadway;
My sisters in the Park Or at Long Beach wish to stay, But I prefer to walk Down the festive, gay Broadway.
Chorus: Walking down Broadway, The festive, gay Broadway, The O.K. thing on Saturday Is walking down Broadway! (repeat)
18--, anon [music found in the archives of the U.S. Marine Corps]
1849, Claudio S. Grafulla (1810 – 1880) [4th NH, Manchester Cornet Band Books]
Dedicated to the 8th Regiment, New York National Guard, the “Washington Greys,” this is still popular with today’s bands. Grafulla was a prolific composer of military and popular music as well as a pre-eminent conductor of bands. Moving from his homeland of Minorca, Spain to America in 1838, Grafulla quickly established his reputation playing in Ned Lothian’s New York Brass Band, which was attached to the 7th Regiment New York State Militia. He had attained national prominence by 1850, and band books of the mid to late 1800s (including Union and Confederate bands during the Civil War) were filled with numerous charts. Grafulla formed his own 48-piece band (complete with woodwinds and trombones), which was known, erroneously, as the 7th Regiment Band. This band did accompany the 7th Regiment in the war, but only for 3 months – returning home to support the effort through benefit concerts. Grafulla led the band until his death from pneumonia, at age 68. Grafulla was unmarried and left no heirs.
1790s, anon [Alfred Squire]
A publication from the late 1790s indicates the title as “The New Presidents March,” which was presumably written for the president’s inauguration in 1789. Philip Phile had already composed his “President’s March,” which, by this time, was being called “Hail Columbia” after words were added by Joseph Hopkinson. Records indicate only Phile’s piece and “God Save the King” were actually performed.
excerpt from 4th of July Overture by Downing [4th NH]
This tune is sometimes called Washington’s March at the Battle of Trenton, and can be found in Benjamin Carr’s Evening Amusement, 1796. It has been determined to be composed during the war.
1862, James Sloan Gibbons / Luther O. Emerson (1820 – 1915) [piano: Oliver Ditson & Co.]
Gibbons' poem was published in the July 16, 1862 New York Evening Post following President Lincoln's July 2 call for 300,000 Union volunteers to enlist for 3 years. Both the Hutchinson Family and Stephen Foster set the poem to music, but none were as popular as Emerson's. Ironically, more people purchased and sang the song than responded to the call. 91,000 volunteered resulting in a forced draft in March 1863, which lead to rioting on a massive scale. Emerson composed the hymn Stand Up For Jesus.
1798, traditional Irish or Scottish (used by Boucicault in 1831; pub: 1865) [Stratton Mil. Band Journal]
The wearing of the shamrock or other green item has long been a symbol of solidarity with the Irish people. The lyric, apparently by the Irish-born playwright Dion Boucicault and certainly sung by the character of Shaun the Post in his play Arrah Na Pogue, is an adaptation of an earlier lyric from the turn of the century. The tune was also used for the college song “Benny Haven's Oh” which celebrates the tavern just outside West Point Academy.
? , G.W.E. Frederich, [Brass Band Journal, 1854]
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
1863, Louis Lambert (Patrick S. Gilmore) (1829-1892) [3rd NH “Port Royal” Band Books]
Gilmore, born in Ireland, came to the U.S. in 1840 and quickly made a name for himself. By 1850 he was conductor of the Boston Brigade Band and at the outset of war was Bandmaster of the 24th Mass. Band. While stationed in New Orleans (1863) he was made Bandmaster for the U.S. Army. There has been controversy over the tune's origin, some saying it was an old Irish tune or written by minstrels, supported by the fact the tune, with different words, had been in print prior to Gilmore’s publication; but to-date no proof of publication has been produced. This includes the song: Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye, which is said to date from the Crimean War. Gilmore later admitted the tune was a “musical waif” that he rescued. The song, despite its tremendous popularity, reached its pinnacle 35 years later during the Spanish-American War.
1852, Franz Abt (1819 – 1885) [Stratton Military Band Journal]
Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was an excellent singer and was known to serenade the ladies in town with this beautiful song accompanied with his personal musicians, the Sweeney brothers. Franz Abt was a German songwriter and conductor whose style was so natural that people assumed he used authentic folk songs for his works. He composed over 600 works.
When This Cruel War Is Over & Hoist Up the Flag Q.S.
1863, Henry Tucker & Septimus Winner [1st Brigade Band ]
With words provided by Charles Carroll Sawyer, “Cruel War” (a.k.a.: Weeping Sad and Lonely) was one of the most popular tunes on both sides of the conflict. Over a million copies were sold in 1863, alone. This was the tune that started certain officers to ban singing in camps due to its maudlin content. “Hoist” was the official song of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Troops. The words were by Billy Holmes. This arrangement comes from the 1st Brigade Band and was the last tune played in their hometown as they departed for the war. See Battle Cry & Kingdom Coming
When This Dreadful War is Ended
1863, Stephen Collins Foster (1826 – 1864) [piano]
The last full year of Foster's life was actually his most prolific, with no fewer than 46 new songs published, ten in The Golden Harp, a hymn book, and ten more in The Athenaeum Collection, also devoted to sacred music. George Cooper, who collaborated with Foster on several tunes late in his life, wrote the words.
1858, Stephen Collins Foster (1826 – 1864) [26th NC, C.S.A. Band Books]
Not having a “hit” in quite a long time, Foster capitalized on the modest success of Lula Is Gone, by writing this follow-up. Foster had written the earlier lyric to imply Lula had died, but after receiving many requests for information about her, Foster “revived” her, stating she had only gone to Florida, and not The Great Beyond.
1861, Stephen Collins Foster (1826 – 1864) [Stratton Military Band Journal]
This is Foster's answer to the popular song “No One To Love.” Though personally unsuccessful, Foster thought it pathetic to think there would not be someone for everybody.
J.A. King – (#6) [1st Brigade Band Books]
J.A. King was a well-known arranger of music for bands in America during the third quarter of the 19th century and leader of the Elmyra Cornet Band prior to the Civil War. The “Wide Awakes” were an early Republican political group that supported the election of Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860. The Wide-Awakes were Unionists that wanted to show that they were alert and ever vigilant in defense of the Federal government in Washington. Another “Wide Awake Quickstep” was composed and published by Max Mayo and performed by Schreiber’s Albany Cornet Band, of Albany, New York.
“This organization, or chain of organizations, known as “Wide Awakes,” are said
to reach already four hundred thousand men, thoroughly drilled, and ready
for any service which their leaders may demand at their hands. They had their
origin in that traditional nest of traitors, Hartford, Connecticut, and, near
the very coast where the blue lights of the second war of Independence were
burnt as signals to a public enemy, the red torch-lights of Black Republican
incendiarism are lit in the present canvass. There can be no mistaking the
meaning of military organizations, nor does it need any suspicious acuteness to
point a moral to such names as “Zouave Wide Awakes,” and “Rail-Splitters
battalion.” Are there no “Brown Avengers,” or “Harper's Ferry Raiders”
among them? Of the Presidential candidates three are agreed that a State
has no right to secede, and on that issue occupy the same platform; and the
“Wide Awakes” have their authority for believing that in the event of
secession of Alabama or South Carolina it will be not only a pretext but a duty
to march into Southern territory. Let the first armed invader, whether a Federal
minion or an abolition drilled incendiary, who violates the sanctity of her
territory, find her citizens not only wide awake, but prepared to meet him.”
Richmond Enquirer, Friday, September 28, 1860: page 1, column 5
18--, Henry Russell (1812 – 1900) [Stratton Military Band Journal]
18--, John Holloway