Yankee Doodle - "Ev'ry Rebel Fife In Play"

This week's celebration of the anniversary of the United States declaring it's independence seems as good a time as any to share a story about the writing of the song "Yankee Doodle", and its connections to the surrender at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army.  

There are a number of claims that the song was played by victorious American musicians when the army of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga.  One comes from a footnote in a collection of accounts of visits to the battlefield by William L. Stone which reads: "The piling of the arms was, it is true, done amid profound silence and without any attempt to humiliate the British.  The instant, however that the march southward began, the American bands struck up "Yankee Doodle".  ... This song had been set to music by a facetious English surgeon at Lake George during the French war..." [1] 

Stone’s earlier work, Ballads and Poems Relating to the Burgoyne Campaign, included several references to the tune being played at the time of the surrender.  Stone draws from the fourth canto of John Trumbull's poem "M'Fingal" (note this is John Trumbull the poet, not the painter who was his second cousin), which he dates to 1782, and includes the lines which read: 

            While ev'ry rebel fife in play

            To yankey-doodle tun'd its lay,

            And like the music of the spheres, 

            Mellifluous sooth'd their vanquish'd ears.

            "Alas!" said I, "what baleful star

            Sheds fatal influence on the war,

            And who that chosen chief of fame,

            That heads this grand parade of shame? [2]

 

Lest there be any doubt who headed the "grand parade of shame", Trumbull's poem goes on to say: "This, this is he - the famed Burgoyne!" [3]  

Stone references another poem, written in 1778 by the Reverend Wheeler Case, "The First Chapter of the Lamentations of General Burgoyne" to bolster his claim that Yankee Doodle was played at the start of the 1777 march of the Convention Army by quoting these lines which read: 

            "As they begin to march, as soon 

            The conquerors all agree 

            To sound the "Yankee Doodle" tune 

            Upon the highest key." [4]

While nothing in the online biographies of Trumbull or Case suggests that they witnessed the events of October 17th, 1777, "Sexagenary" (John P. Becker) claimed that he was there as a boy.  He recalled that the day of the surrender, as generals Horatio Gates and John Burgoyne exited the tent where they had been dining: "...the moment they [the British troops] stepped foot upon our line, our drums and music struck up 'Yankee Doodle"." [5]  John Henry Barlow, who referenced Sexagenary's claim in his work The Story of Old Saratoga, noted of the tune: "It had been British property exclusively till Saratoga, and now the waggish drum-major thought it a good time to put "Yankee Doodle" on the other foot." [6]  Sexagenary's account, published half a century after the surrender, is suspect in a number of ways given both the passage of time and what else he claims to have witnessed.

Perhaps the most reliable source to support the claim comes from a map, one drawn by Colonel Rufus Putnam entitled: "An Orthographical View of the American and British Armies on the 7th & 8th of October 1777" that also shows the location of the surrender.  In its legend Putnam indicates: " D. Place where the British piled their arms on the glorious & ever memorable 17th of October 1777. On this happy morning the brigades of the American right having their right towards General Gates quarters and their left towards General Schuyler's house at A, were drawn upon the road side when they had the satisfaction to see the haughty Britains ground or file [sic - "pile"?] their arms at D and march out through the interval by the river side and to crown all John Burgoyne Colo of the Queen's own regiment of light dragoons etc. etc. etc. etc., with his suite of British and German generals and aides de camp being recd by General Gates at Schuyler's house were marched from left to right of our army saluted with the agreeable tune called Yankee Doodle or the Country's Favorite." [7] 

Stone's work, and a number of websites make the claim that the "agreeable tune" was written in the 1750's by a British army surgeon.   The Kennedy Center, one of many that do, offers a lesson for students which relates: "The “Yankee Doodle” tune was already well known by the 1750s. But tradition says that in 1755 a British doctor named Richard Schuckburg penned new words to mock his American allies.", and goes on to say, without naming its source, that the tune was played on April 19, 1775, claiming: "Reports say that British fifers and drummers teased the colonists by playing “Yankee Doodle” as their columns snaked along rural roads.  ... Legend has it the colonial militiamen returned the musical insult as they counterattacked. They sang “Yankee Doodle” as British soldiers retreated."

Others, such as the Mount Vernon website, indicate that Yankee Doodle was written some time after General George Washington arrived in Cambridge to take command of the Continental Army in June of 1775.  That article goes on to say in a footnote: "The pre-1760s source, if there is one, of the tune of "Yankee Doodle," is unknown. Claims of earlier appearances are without foundation."

One of the most popular origin stories for Yankee Doodle, the one that links it to march of the Convention Army, is tied to Crailo, an early eighteenth century home on the east bank of the Hudson River, directly across from Albany, located in what was part of Greenbush in 1777.  The house, pictured here, is now a state historic site with exhibits focused on Dutch colonial history, open seasonally to the public, and well worth a visit.  

A sign behind the house asks visitors the question: "Were the popular lyrics to "Yankee Doodle" written here?  ... In June of 1758, when troop from New England mustered here, Robert van Rensselaer claimed he witnessed British surgeon Dr. Richard Shuckburgh sitting on Crailo's well, composing verses of the now-famous song that poked fun at ragtag provincial troops.  Today, the research for a definitive answer continues." 

The German column likely passed through Greenbush a bit to the east of Crailo on its march, as the Specht Journal notes: “We let the city of Albany lie on that [west] side of the river 2 Engl. miles away.”, but Burgoyne may have ridden by after he crossed the Hudson River, and was heading to Kinderhook, following his stay at the Schuyler family mansion in Albany. [8]  Yankee Doodle may not have been written at Crailo, or even played at Saratoga.  If it was, there is a bit of irony to be had in Burgoyne passing its birthplace.  Regardless, a visit to Crailo is highly recommended as an opportunity to see a surviving eighteenth century Dutch colonial home, and learn about the Dutch influence on the Hudson River Valley.

UPDATE:

While researching for another post, I came across this quote in a source that I've used before.  Elijah James, writing to a friend, shared a description of the surrender which reads in part: "Generral Burgoyne & his generall officers [rode with General Gates] ... aboute a half mile to Generall Gates head Quarters follow’d By Gener’ll Glovers Brigades with the fifes and Drums which Play’d the yankee Dudle… tune very Sutable for the times." [9, emphasis added.]  Based on James account, it seems reasonable to conclude that Burgoyne would have heard Yankee Doodle played at the time of the surrender, regardless of where it was written.

[1] William L. Stone, Visits to Saratoga Battle-Grounds (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1895), 80.

[2] William L. Stone, Ballads and Poems Relating to the Burgoyne Campaign (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1895), 20.

[3] The Poetical Works of John Trumbull, LL.D (Hartford, CT: Samuel & Goodrich, 1820), 138-139.

[4] Stone, Ballads and Poems Relating to the Burgoyne Campaign, 59.

[5] Becker, The Sexagenary, 115.

[6] John Henry Barlow, The Story of Old Saratoga and History of Schuylerville (Albany, NY: Fort Orange Press, 1900), 162.

[7] Richard J. Koke, "The Field Of Grounded Arms At Schuylerville (Old Saratoga) New York", Saratoga National Historical Park Report, May 2, 1947, 7-8.

[8] Specht Journal, p. 103.

[9] McKenzie, Barefooted, Bare Leg’d Bare Breeche’d,  62.

Next Week: Middlesex County - "True And Loyal Subjects"

For more on the Convention Army's 1777 march from Saratoga to Boston, see:

1777 March Blog Home          Overnight Stopping Points          Towns and Villages Along the Way

 Annotated Bibliography