It is with some trepidation that an itenerant musician, such as I, do battle
albeit a battle of wits (wit?) with academicians. Yet I suggest you look at
the songs of the time for another view of who was invading whom.''
I think an analysis of Northern Patriotic Songs will show that threads
running through them are generally:
- A Rally to old Abe (I think that I recall the name of the Library of
Congress Civil War Songs is something like 'Music of Lincoln'.... but I may
be wrong. e.g. "We are coming Father Abraham, 100,000 strong"
- Preserving the Union, and just plain fighting
Southern Patriotic Songs usually come to grips more directly with the issue
of who is invading whom.
TO ARMS (to the tune of Dixie) "Shall this boasting mad invader, trample
Dixie and Invad'er'....... 'By our fathers' proud example, Southern Soil
they shall not trample.... etc.
And of course the Stirring VIRGINIAN MARSEILLAISE "... Men unborn will
tell the sotry, how their fathers fought and bled, While fairest hands their
wounds were tending, And brightest eyes the dead bewailed.... and not a
noble bosom quailed.... E'n to die their native land defending."
And THE SOUTH...."The tyrant with shackles would manacle thee, Would
strangle thy spirit dear, land of the free; Would trample the banner of
Right in the dust, And yoke ye with iron......
And probably the most stately of all Southern patriotic Songs. "Our hills
and our vales with the death shriek may ring, And our forests may swarm with
the foe, but still to the breeze our proud banner, we'll fling, and to
Vict'ry or Death we will go. We'll stand by THE CROSS AND THE PURE FIELD OF
WHITE, while a shred's left to float on the air: Our trust is in God, who
can help us in fight, and defend those who ask Him in Prayer.
And how about our neighbors just across the Potomac. "Avenge the Patriotic
gore, that flecked the streets of Baltimore....." I love the sentiments.
Those weren't southern troops who gunned down the good citizens of
Baltimore.
Finally, one of the truly best tunes to survive the war and live long after
was MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. I don't recall any counterpart called
MARCHING TO SCHNECTADY.
So lighten up, folks. Am I biased? Yep and I calmly await the musical
counterfire :))
Randy Cabell
Mentor of the 19th Virginia Heavy Artillery Band
The only Virginia Confederate Band Books to survive THE WAR
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anne Pemberton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: Southern loyalism?
> Excuse me, but history tells us that the confederate rebels were the
> invading army, not the Federal troops. The rebel army began it's invasion
> of the United States by attacking Fort Sumpter, and continued when they
> struck in Maryland and Pennsylvania. As John Carter pointed out, the rebel
> army even "invaded" southern communities in the pursuit of their illegal
> "cause". And, yes, it was illegal then and now to secede. As others have
> recently pointed out, most of the south didn't even trust their own
> citizens to put the secession to a popular vote.
>
> Anne
>
>
> At 09:20 AM 2/20/03 -0500, you wrote:
> >It is very difficult to judge Southern support for the Union due largely
to
> >the fact that the Union was an invading army and there was a real need to
> >support family on the home front. However, I see about as much support
for
> >the Union troops entering the South as Lee saw when he entered
Pennsylvania
> >and Maryland.
> >
> >Jeff Southmayd
> >
> >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> >at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> Anne Pemberton
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
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