If there was a song
the Confederate soldier loved almost as much as "Dixie," it was "The Bonnie
Blue Flag."
Sung to the folk
melody "The Irish Jaunting Car," it lays out the order in which the Southern
states
seceded along with
the grievances that caused their departure.
The song was premiered
by lyricist Harry Macarthy 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 in front of an audience of soldiers headed for the Virginia
front.
The response was
enthusiastic, and Macarthy had one of the first "hits" of the War on his
hands.
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 tune was so
popular that Union General Benjamin Butler was said to have arrested
and fined Blackmar
for daring to publish it.
According to Mark
Boatner's Civil War Dictionary, the Bonnie Blue Flag was "the blue field
of the United States
flag bearing first
a single star for South Carolina (which seceded first), joined later...
by the other ten,
and was used before the adoption of the now-familiar Confederate flags."
Another account
claims that the flag made its first appearance at the Mississippi Secession
Convention
in January of 1861,
having been sewn by the wife of a convention delegate.
Whatever its origins,
the flag was often carried by Texas troops,
and its design
served as the basis for the state flags of both Virginia and South Carolina.
THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG
Lyrics by Harry Macarthy (d. 1880)
We are a band of brothers
And native to the soil,
Fighting for the property
We gained by honest toil;
And when our rights were threatened,
The cry rose near and far--
"Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star!"
CHORUS: Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
As long as the Union
Was faithful to her trust,
Like friends and like brothers
Both kind were we and just;
But now, when Northern treachery
Attempts our rights to mar,
We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.--CHORUS
First gallant South Carolina
Nobly made the stand,
Then came Alabama,
Who took her by the hand.
Next quickly Mississippi,
Georgia and Florida
All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.--CHORUS
Ye men of valor, gather round
The banner of the right;
Texas and fair Louisiana
Join us in the fight.
Davis, our loved president,
And Stephens statesman are;
Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.--CHORUS
And here's to old Virginia--
The Old Dominion State--
Who with the young Confederacy
At length has linked her fate;
Impelled by her example,
Now other states prepare
To hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.--CHORUS
Then cheer, boys, cheer;
Raise the joyous shout,
For Arkansas and North Carolina
Now have both gone out;
And let another rousing cheer
For Tennessee be given,
The single star of the Bonnie Blue Flag
Has grown to be eleven.--CHORUS
Then here's to our Confederacy,
Strong are we and brave;
Like patriots of old we'll fight
Our heritage to save.
And rather than submit to shame,
To die we would prefer;
So cheer for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.--CHORUS