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Tradition has it that Yankee Doodle had its origins in the French and
Indian War when New England troops joined Braddock's forces at
Niagara. In contrast to the spit and polish of the British army, the
colonials were a motley crew, some wearing buckskins and furs. Dr.
Richard Schuckburg, a British Army surgeon reportedly wrote the tune
ridiculing the Americans in the early 1750s.
Some scholars believe it is a variant of the nursery rhyme Lucy
Locket. Despite the fact it began as ridicule, the colonials took the
song for their own. Countless versions and parodies evolved, many of
which made fun of their officers, including George Washington. When
Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown it is said while the British played
The World Turned Upside Down, the Americans played Yankee Doodle.
[Verse 1]
Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding;
And there we saw the men and boys,
As thick as hasty pudding.
[Chorus]
Yankee doodle, keep it up,
Yankee doodle dandy;
Mind the musie and the step,
And with the girls be handy.
[Verse 2]
There was Captain Washington
Upon a slapping stallion,
A-giving orders to his men,
I guess there was a million.
[Verse 3]
And then the feathers on his hat,
They looked so' tarnal fin-a,
I wanted pockily to get
To give to my Jemima.
[Verse 4]
And then we saw a swamping gun,
Large as a log of maple;
Upon a deuced little cart,
A load for father's cattle.
[Verse 5]
And every time they shoot it off,
It takes a horn of powder;
It makes a noise like father's gun,
Only a nation louder.
[Verse 6]
I went as nigh to one myself,
As' Siah's underpinning;
And father went as nigh agin,
I thought the deuce was in him.
[Verse 7]
We saw a little barrel, too,
The heads were made of leather;
They knocked upon it with little clubs,
And called the folks together.
[Verse 8]
And there they'd fife away like fun,
And play on cornstalk fiddles,
And some had ribbons red as blood,
All bound around their middles.
[Verse 9]
The troopers, too, would gallop up
And fire right in our faces;
It scared me almost to death
To see them run such races.
[Verse 10]
Uncle Sam came there to change
Some pancakes and some onions,
For' lasses cake to carry home
To give his wife and young ones.
[Verse 11]
But I can't tell half I see
They kept up such a smother;
So I took my hat off, made a bow,
And scampered home to mother.
[Verse 12]
Cousin Simon grew so bold,
I thought he would have cocked it;
It scared me so I streaked it off,
And hung by father's pocket.
[Verse 14]
And there I saw a pumpkin shell,
As big as mother's basin;
And every time they touched it off,
They scampered like the nation. |
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As to the origins of the term Yankee, Thomas Anburey offers us the
following: "The lower class of these Yankees -- a propos, it may not
be amis here just to observe to you the etymology of this term: it is
derived from a Cherokee word, eankke, which signifies coward and
slave. This epithet of yankee was bestowed upon the inhabitants of
New England by the Virginians, for not assisting them in a war with
the Cherokees, and they have always been held in derision by it. But
the name has been more prevalent since the commencement of
hostilities; the soldiery at Boston used it as a term of reproach;
but after the affair of Bunker's [Breed's] Hill, the Americans gloried
in it. Yankee-doodle, is now their poean, a favorite of favorites,
played in their army, esteemed as warlike as the Grenadier's March --
it is the lover's spell, the nurse's lullaby. After our rapid
successes, we held the Yankees in great contempt; but it was not a
little mortifying to hear them play this tune, when their army marched
down to our surrender [at Saratoga]".
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| Spirit Of 1776 |
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| Spirit Of 1776 |
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The famous "Spirit of '76" painting, originally know as "Yankee
Doodle" was painted in 1875 by Archibald MacNeal Willard (1836 to
1918) for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. There are
several variations of the "Spirit Of '76" painting produced by
Willard, which are hung in various Government buildings. Two of the
numerous versions of his work are shown above.
Willard, a native to Ohio, fought during the Civil War as a soldier in
the 86th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1863. Willard's inspiration for
the painting came about as he watch a parade march past him in the
Town Square. The center figure is most notable as it resembles
Archibald's late father. |
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