• Source: The Bonnie Blue Flag

"The Bonnie Blue Flag", also known as "We Are a Band of Brothers", is an 1861 marching song associated with the Confederate States of America. The words were written by the entertainer Harry McCarthy, with the melody taken from the song "The Irish Jaunting Car". The song's title refers to the unofficial first flag of the Confederacy, the Bonnie Blue Flag. The left flag on the sheet-music is the Bonnie Blue Flag.
The song was premiered by lyricist Harry McCarthy during a concert in Jackson, Mississippi, in the spring of 1861 and performed again in September of that same year at the New Orleans Academy of Music for the First Texas Volunteer Infantry regiment mustering in celebration.
The New Orleans music publishing house of A.E. Blackmar issued six editions of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" between 1861 and 1864 along with three additional arrangements.
The "band of brothers" mentioned in the first line of the song recalls the well known St. Crispin's Day Speech in William Shakespeare's play Henry V (Act IV, scene ii).




Lyrical variations



The first verse of the song goes:

These lyrics appear in a version held by the Library of Congress. It was published by A. E. Blackmar and Brother in New Orleans in 1861. The second line is sometimes given as "fighting for the property we gained by honest toil." University of San Diego professor Steve Schoenherr and the library of Duke University record the "property" version which also has a publication date of 1861. When Major General Benjamin Butler captured New Orleans, he allegedly arrested Blackmar, fined him $500, destroyed all copies of the music, and ordered that anyone caught whistling or singing "The Bonnie Blue Flag" would be fined $25 (roughly $500 in the 2010s). Eleven other editions of the song were published with different lyrics.
Annie Chambers Ketchum, a Confederate widow who risked her liberty to publish new verses to be sung, published a new version of the song under the title "The Gathering Song." The following verses were published in a eulogy by Gilberta S. Whittle in the 1904 Richmond Times Dispatch:




Complete lyrics






Historical inaccuracies


The song is a useful mnemonic for the list of states that seceded, although for reasons of meter the third verse re-arranges the order of secession. The actual dates on which the states seceded are as follows:

South Carolina (December 20, 1860)
Mississippi (January 9, 1861)
Florida (January 10, 1861)
Alabama (January 11, 1861)
Georgia (January 19, 1861)
Louisiana (January 26, 1861)
Texas (February 1, 1861)
Virginia (April 17, 1861)
Arkansas (May 6, 1861)
North Carolina (May 20, 1861)
Tennessee (June 8, 1861)
Thus, Alabama took South Carolina by the hand only figuratively but actually delayed her secession until the departure of Mississippi and Florida.




Union versions


As with many songs from the time of the American Civil War, this song had multiple versions for both the Union and Confederate sides. One Union version, written by J. L. Geddes, in 1863, a British-born colonel who immigrated to the U.S., was called "The Bonnie Flag With the Stripes and Stars". Singing of Unionism and equality, it went:

Another version by one Mrs. C. Sterett and published by S.T. Gordon of 538 Broadway Street in New York went:

Chorus

Additionally, the Song of the Irish Volunteers, an anthem of the famous 69th New York regiment of the Irish Brigade, was sung to the same tune.My Name is Tim McDonald, I'm a native of the Isle
I was born among old Erin's Bogs when I was but a child
My Father fought in '98 for liberty so dear;
He fell upon old Vinegar Hill, like an Irish Volunteer!

Then raise the Harp of Erin, boys, The flag we all revere!
We'll fight and fall beneath its folds, Like Irish Volunteers!
Then raise the Harp of Erin, boys, The flag we all revere!
We'll fight and fall beneath its folds, Like Irish Volunteers!

When I was driven from my home by an oppressor's hand
I cut my sticks and greased my brogues and came o'er to this land
I found a home and many friends, and some that I love dear;
Be jabbers! I'll stick to them like bricks and an Irish Volunteer!

Then fill your glasses up, my boys, and drink a hearty cheer!
To the land of our adoption and the Irish Volunteers!
Then fill your glasses up, my boys, and drink a hearty cheer!
To the land of our adoption and the Irish Volunteers!

Now when the traitors in the south commenced a warlike raid
I quickly then laid down my hod, to the devil went my spade!
To a recruiting office then I went, that happened to be near
And joined the good old 69th, like an Irish Volunteer!

Then fill the ranks and march away! No traitors do we fear!
We'll drive them all to blazes, says the Irish Volunteer!
Then fill the ranks and march away! No traitors do we fear!
We'll drive them all to blazes, says the Irish Volunteer!

Now, when the Prince of Wales came over here, and made a hullabaloo
Oh, everybody turned out, you know, in gold and tinsel too;
But then the good old 69th didn't like these lords or peers
They wouldn't give a damn for kings, the Irish Volunteers!

We Love the Land of Liberty, its laws we will revere!
"But the devil take the nobility!" says the Irish volunteer!
We Love the Land of Liberty, its laws we will revere!
"But the devil take the nobility!" says the Irish volunteer!

Now if the traitors in the south should ever cross our roads
We'll drive them to the devil, as Saint Patrick did the toads;
We'll give them all short nooses that come just below the ears,
Made strong and good of Irish hemp, by Irish volunteers!

Then here's to brave McClellan whom the army now reveres!
He'll lead us on to victory, the Irish volunteers!
Then here's to brave McClellan whom the army now reveres!
He'll lead us on to victory, the Irish volunteers!

Now fill your glasses up, my boys, a toast come drink with me
May Erin's Harp and the Starry Flag united ever be;
May traitors quake, and rebels shake, and tremble in their fears,
When next they meet the Yankee boys and Irish volunteers!

God bless the name of Washington! that name this land reveres;
Success to Meagher and Nugent, and their Irish volunteers!
God bless the name of Washington! that name this land reveres;

Success to Meagher and Nugent, and their Irish volunteers!




In popular culture


In the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind, Rhett Butler nicknames his child 'Bonnie Blue Butler' after Melanie Hamilton remarks that the child's eyes are as "blue as the Bonnie Blue flag".
In the 1956 movie The Searchers, the song playing as John Wayne approaches at the beginning of the film is a slow version of "The Bonnie Blue Flag".
In the 1959 movie The Horse Soldiers, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" is heard sung in the distance as a Confederate column passes on the other side of a river, and is also played by a company of Mississippi military school cadets, marching out to face the Union cavalry in an effort to delay their progress. (An incident loosely based on the unrelated charge of the Virginia Military Institute cadets at the Battle of New Market, May 15, 1864.)
In the 1966 movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the chorus of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" is sung by a band of drunken revelers as they drop off Maria at her home in Santa Anna.
The 1972 television series Appointment with Destiny made the error of portraying Union soldiers singing "The Bonnie Blue Flag."
In the 1989 movie Glory, a portion of the Bonnie Blue Flag tune is played in the background by several Union soldiers as the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment are marching past.
In the 1993 movie Gettysburg, the song is being played by a Confederate band as General James Longstreet (played by Tom Berenger) meets with General Robert E. Lee (played by Martin Sheen) on the first day of the battle (July 2, 1863).
In the 1999 television movie The Hunley about the H.L. Hunley submarine in South Carolina during the American Civil War, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" song is sung to raise civilians' spirits during a Union mortar attack on the city.
In a 2001 episode of SpongeBob SquarePants ("The Fry Cook Games"), the melody of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" is played during the opening montage of the Games.
In the 2003 movie Gods and Generals, the ode to "The Bonnie Blue Flag" is sung in front of a portion of the Confederate army (including producer Ted Turner dressed as a rebel officer) by a USO-style performer.
In a 2012 episode of the show Hell on Wheels entitled "Viva la Mexico", the chorus of the song is sung by Confederate soldiers-turned-bandits.
In the 2013 video game BioShock Infinite, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" is played on a phonograph during the chapter "Hall of Heroes."




References






External links



"The Bonnie Blue Flag", Polk Miller and his Old South Quartet (Edison Blue Amberol 2175, 1913)—Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project.
Sheet music for "The Bonnie Blue Flag", from Project Gutenberg
Images of original sheet music (1861) for "The Bonnie Blue Flag" at the Duke University library ("Fighting for the property")
Images of original sheet music (1861) for "The Bonnie Blue Flag" at the Library of Congress ("Fighting for our liberty")
MIDI for "The Bonnie Blue Flag", from Project Gutenberg
The short film A NATION SINGS (1963) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.

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