For Texas:
According to the band's intro to this next song over on YouTube:
The theme-song of General J.E.B. Stuart’s famous cavalry is attributed to the leader of his camp band and banjoist, Sam Sweeney. This signature song, the words possibly penned by Stuart himself, was “Jine the Cavalry”. Though the composer is uncertain, it is thought to have been adapted by Sweeney, who, after enlisting in the cavalry in 1862, soon came to the general’s attention and suddenly found himself a member of Stuart's staff and his personal minstrel troupe.
As Burke Davis wrote in his great biography of Stuart, “JEB Stuart - the Last Cavalier”,
“Stuart must have more music.…there was always music. Sweeney on the banjo, Mulatto Bob on the bones, a couple of fiddlers […] Sweeney rode with Stuart on the outpost day and night. Stuart often sang and Sweeney plucked the strings behind him. . . .”
The chorus is:
If you want to have a good time, jine the cavalry!
Jine the cavalry! Jine the cavalry!
If you want to catch the Devil, if you want to have fun,
If you want to smell Hell, jine the cavalry!
And a Union song that apparently became popular on both sides during the Late Unpleasantness.*
The 2nd plays Civil War reenactments, among other things.
*I found this blog post from a Southern historian in looking up the origin of this way of referring to the Civil War and like what he has to say (although apparently he disagrees with calling it the Civil War).
You'll get yourself on a Federal watch list listening to that band.
ReplyDeleteJoining the cavalry is a pretty good bit of advice for a young man wanting to have a good time, though. Cav scouts get a lot of crap from the infantry, but they have a pretty great job as soldiering goes. It's easier than special operations and not as cool, but if you're a regular at heart you could do worse.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, your scholar is probably correct in disagreeing with the term "the Civil War." It wasn't really a civil war, as the one side sought independence and not to capture and rule the government. The debate is an old one; the official records are called "The War of the Rebellion."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.loc.gov/resource/g3701sm.gcw0099000/?st=gallery
You'll get yourself on a Federal watch list listening to that band.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll just have to take my chances on it. Good music is worth it.
Ya know, after listening to "Jine the Cavalry" a few times, I'm ready to join the cavalry. Not that they'd have me, of course, though with the recruiting crisis, maybe ...
Well you should at least know why you’re going to be on the list.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/YI16zDNFLec?si=GxxbRctcHnKlnRya
Ah. Well that's a good video. I thought it might be because of this one
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/SJdx14mgiDo?si=ysjqClwzJf9hKGK6
The historian I mentioned, John Devanny, noted all the different names for the war and then pointed out part of that is because we have "no common memory, common meaning, or common understanding of the War." That's what he discusses, that lack of common historical consciousness and how the lack continues to divide us.
Although he doesn't go beyond a brief discussion of that, it made me think that an honest attempt to reach such a common consciousness might be a very fruitful endeavor for a historian, or more probably a group of historians.
Or, it might kill their careers. But that in no way makes it less worthwhile of an endeavor, and might make it more so if it cultivates courage as well.
Yeah, I've never been to a Civil War Re-enactment event, but I gather that passionate Confederate re-enactors are one of the groups that the government worries about. (I also hear that the hardest part of putting on a successful re-enactment is to get people to play the Union guys, as everyone wants to wear gray.) Developing one's skill with a musket might or might not be an effective way of preparing for revolutionary action in the present era, but for some reason they worry about them.
ReplyDeleteHistorians are not going to develop a consensus view of anything; the opposite is more ususal. They could at least develop a helpful illumination of the opposing views, and a debate about it that might also be illuminating.
That's odd. I'd be willing to play a Union soldier, if there were any re-enactment groups near me. I wouldn't mind learning how to handle a musket, either. It might be particularly fun to jine the re-enactor cavalry.
ReplyDeleteOh, no, most historians these days are well over on the wrong side of history, I reckon.
But I would think in terms of working toward public engagement, writing for popular audiences, maybe getting into K-12 curricula, that sort of thing.
Joining the cavalry is excellent advice. FWIW, my Great, Great Grandfather, Pvt Robert Leggett, served in the 4th Mississippi Cavalry during the late unpleasantness.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. Do you know much about him?
ReplyDeleteA fair amount.
ReplyDeleteI have only stories about the family during that time frame, which I learned from my late uncle Mike. He was a Pathfinder in Vietnama, and later went blind due to exposure to Agent Orang; thus, he died young and I did not have enough time to learn what his sources were not to check them.
ReplyDeleteI gather that my great-great grandfather was briefly a soldier but was captured in an early battle, parolled to hunt for camp meat, and then enrolled as a contractor when they realized he knew how to make whiskey. He spent the rest of the war doing that, so I have heard.
I always wondered what "Playing the Bones" meant. Now I know!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was a learning experience for me too.
ReplyDeleteFamily history is interesting. One of my aunts put together a history for that side of the family, but this was back in the day and she typed it all (as in, on a typewriter). Some time I'd really like to get a copy of that.
ReplyDeleteOn "Jine the Cavalry," I'd really like to know who those "big fat Dutch gals" were. The rest of the song is understandable, referring to the various exploits of Stuart's cavalry, but that one remains a mystery.
The tune is now (well, up until 1995 anyway) used in Sunday Schools as "I'm in the Lord's Army."
ReplyDeleteI have several ancestors that served in the Confederate Army. I have been particularly interested in my Great, Great Grandfather, Pvt Robert Leggett because he served in the cavalry and there is a certain romance that surrounds the cavalry. Interesting fact, he and his unit surrendered at the end of the war at Citronelle, Alabama, one of the major areas designated for Confederate forces to surrender. This occurred around or under a tree that was designated the "Surrender Oak."
ReplyDeleteI only recently discovered that I had a relative who served in the Union army, in a New Jersey Calvary unit. As a private, I wasn't sure I should assume he even rode a horse, as I figure there would have been many support personnel for every rider. I have no idea though.
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