Two Examples Of "Johnny Fill Up The Bowl" (United States Civil War Song)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases two examples of the United States Civil War Song "Johnny Fill Up The Bowl".

This post is published for folkloric and historical purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composers of versions of this song. Thanks also to the collectors and publishers of this song, and to all those who are quoted in this post.

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Example #1: JOHNNY FILL UP THE BOWL
Up, Freeman and volunteer,
Hurrah, hurrah!
And crush Rebellion out this year
Hurrah, hurrah!
Up-hoist our country's glorious flag
Down with the Confederate rag;
And we'll all drink stone-blind--
Johnny, fill up the bowl.

The Conscription Act is now passed
Hurrah, hurrah!
And we'll be drafted now at last.
Hurrah, hurrah!
Five Hndred Thousand the latest call,
Wake up, or we'll be ruined all.
And we'll all drink stone-blind--
Johnny, fill up the bowl.

Soon from the distant shores of Maine,
Hurrah, hurrah!
To Georgia's distant sunny plain
Hurrah, hurrah!
Our flag shall wave over ev'y port,
O'er land and sea and then we'll sport;
And we'll all drink stone-blind--
Johnny, fill up the bowl.

And when this cruel war is o'er,
Hurrah, hurrah!
We'll not discharge the Invalid Corps
But to garrison forts or occupy,
A higher station till they die;
And we'll all drink stone-blind--
Johnny, fill up the bowl.

Quoted from http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/old-time-music/old-time-songs/johnny_fill_up_the_bowl.html

-snip-
Explanation of certain words or phrases:
Freeman - Black men who are free as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation

Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation [in July 1862] there were Black men who were born free and/or who had purchased their freedom.

As an aside, it can be noted that some Black Americans and some non-Black Americans have the last name "Freeman". That term was also used during medieval times in the United Kingdom to distinguish freeman from serfs.

"conscription finally being passed" = July 17, 1862 [click
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/ for information about this subject]

The use of the term "freeman", the reference to "conscription finally being passed",and the use of the pronoun "we" are indications that this version of "Johnny Fill Up The Bowl" was composed by a Black American.

"fill up the bowl [with liquor]

"and we'll all drink stone-blind" = This probably means veeeery drunk; i.e. "as blind as a stone" (since stones can't see)

In contemporary English saying "drinking (oneself blind)- so that things get blurry and the person can't see.

The phrase "stone blind" appears to be similar but is probably not the same as the use of "stone" as a substitute for the word "very". I think that slang use of the word "stone" as an intensifier first occurred in the mid to late 1960s, for example in the hit song "Stone Soul Picnic" which was recorded by The Fifth Dimensions.

"then we'll sport" - then we'll enjoy ourselves

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Example #2:
JOHNNY FILL UP THE BOWL
Abram Lincoln, where yer 'bout?
Hurrah, hurrah.
Stop this war, for it's played out
Hurrah, hurrah.

Abram Lincoln, what yer 'bout
Stop this war, for it's played out.
We'll all drink stone-blind
Johnny fill up the bowl.
-snip-
Source of this song: "Civil War Street Ballad", Journal of American Folklore, 1892, 269-81

A musical notation is given for this song. But unfortunately, I can't read music and therefore can't tell for sure what the tune is and if its tempo was fast or slow. However, the editor's comment about this example taking "a popular patroit tune" and the use of the name "Johnny" suggests to me that that song used the tune to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3k8H_9SjoM for a sound file of that song.

The summary of that sound file indicates that "Noted Bandmaster Patrick Gilmore wrote the lyrics for this tune when his band was attached to the 24th Massachusetts Infantry. The tune is the same as the Irish song "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" but there is some dispute as to which came first."
-snip-
That information was surprising to me as I had apparently mistakenly thought that "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" song referred to the soldiers in the Confederate army, because of their nickname "Johnny reb". I

My guess is that "Johnny" was a general nickname for all White males (in the United States, at least, and perhaps also in what was to become the United Kingdom. At the same time in the United States, if not elsewhere, the general nickname for Black males was either "Sambo" ("Sam") or "George", but I believe that I read that "George came later. And, I read in that same article whose citation I didn't save that at least one general nickname for Black females was "Elizabeth" (Lizzy).
-snip-
Explanation of certain words or phrases:
"where yer 'bout= where are you?
-snip-
This song is included in the book Folklore From The Working Poor edited by Tritram Potter Coffin and Hennig Cohen (Anchor Press, 1973, p. 83). That book featured three example from "Civil War Street Ballad", Journal of American Folklore, 1892, 269-81. However, I only copied the example given above.
[This was about 15 years ago before I had a home computer and I would use the library copy machines and pay 10 cents a page to copy lots of pages of books that I was interested in.]

Here are notes about this song and the other two songs that were featured in that section are quoted in Folklore From The Working Poor from the article "Civil War Street Ballad", Journal of American Folklore, 1892, 269-81
"Military. Songs of this kind were printed on single sheets of coarse paper often without music or indication of authorship, and sold in the streets for a penny and were gathered in dime songsters. These examples were gathered by Alfred M. Williams. Many street ballads show clear signs of folk origin, and others more literary and of known authorship passed into folk tradition. The standard tunes for these three songs which follow have ben supplied by the editors.

"Johnny Fill Up The Bowl": Copperheads, northern sympathizers with the Conferacy, or simply the discouraged and war-weary, also raised their voices in song, like folksingers everywhere borrowing a tune that united them. In this instance they took a popular patriotic tune. Vance Randolph (Ozark Folksongs II, 284) notes a version of this song used as a sea chantey.

"Bummers Come And Meet Us": "Bummers" were soldiers who deserted to loot and were, loosely, raiders. As with sailors' chanteys and plantation work songs, the simple repetitiou form of thee verses encouragaged communal composition-exapansion and iprovisation by anonymous singers. To thee eextent it was used by soldiers as a marching song it was, in a strict sense, more of an occupational song than the others in this group.

"The Valiant Conscript": A shared tradition, North and South, is eevideent in this southern version off "Yankee Doodle", which, like "Dixie", calls to mind the banter and low humor of the
minstrel stage.
-snip-
My comment:
Given these notes and the use of the "When Johnny Comes Marching home song, I think that this version of that song was probably composed by White Americans.

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"Shouting The Battle Cry Of Freedom" (Lyrics & Videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the United States Civil War song "Shouting The Battle Cry Of Freedom".

The content of this post is presented for historical, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SONG
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Cry_of_Freedom

Battle Cry of Freedom" is a song written in 1862 by American composer George Frederick Root (1825–1895) during the American Civil War. A patriotic song advocating the cause of the Union, it became so popular that composer H. L. Schreiner and lyricist W. H. Barnes adapted it for the Confederate States of America. The Union version was used as the campaign song for the Lincoln-Johnson ticket in the 1864 presidential election. The song was so popular that the music publisher at one time had 14 printing presses going at one time and still could not keep up with demand. It is estimated that over 700,000 copies of this song were put in circulation...

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LYRICS: SHOUTING THE BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM (UNION VERSION)
(composed by George Frederick Root, 1862)

Yes we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

(Chorus)
The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll fill our vacant ranks with a million freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And although they may be poor, not a man shall be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Cry_of_Freedom for the lyrics of this song that was sung by the Confederate side.
-snip-
Hat tip to political blogger Charles Pierce for mentioning the accapella group Committed's performance of this song at a Gospel brunch prior to the start of the 2012 Democratic convention. Here's how Pierce described his experience of that group singing "Shouting The Battle Cry Of Freedom":

I was only here for about eight hours before I found the coolest place at this convention. It's an air-conditioned tent being run by the Democratic delegation from Alabama in back of an old brick church about halfway down Brevard Street between the convention center and the arena. On Sunday, they ran a gospel brunch there, and the entertainment was an a cappella group from Huntsville called Committed. The centerpiece of their show is a gorgeous version of "The Battle Cry of Freedom," the song by George F. Root behind which the Union armies marched and Abraham Lincoln was re-elected in 1864.

[excerpt of the song quoted here]

The version they sang was not martial. It was slow and reverent. It was not the song you sang while marching toward Sharpsburg, or Gettysburg, or Appomattox, a song you sang to steel yourselves against the horrors you knew were coming. It was a song you sang on the long walk home at the end of it all, to Wisconsin or Minnesota, New Hampshire or Vermont, the April blossoms bursting around you while the dark memories of those same horrors erupted unbidden in your mind at night, and you sang it this way, as a hymn to memory, to steel yourself against an even harder battle while the firelight died out. That is the way they sang it, these six young African American men, history as resonant in them as the notes of their voices, and it was far too early to start weeping at this convention, but I did...

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/voting-rights-dnc-12353394 "What Democrats Should Be Talking About at the DNC" By Charles P. Pierce
-snip-
A video of Committed singing that Civil War song is provided as Example #2 below.

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FEATURED EXAMPLES OF THIS SONG
Example #1: The Battle Cry of Freedom



Uploaded by Winboloer2 on Aug 17, 2008

By Columbia Masterworks

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Example #2: Committed~Battle Cry of Freedom



Published on Apr 24, 2012 by EMFiLMs09

Committed at the Arlington 7th Day Adventist Church.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
My thanks to the composer of "Shouting The Battle Cry Of Freedom", the acapella group "Committed", the Wikipedia writers who posted information about this song, and Charles Pierce whose blog post I quoted & linked.

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Two Songs That United States Civil War Black Soldiers Sang

Edited by Azizi Powell

[updated September 22, 2014: Former title "Two Songs That Civil War Colored Soldiers Sang; latested update April 25, 2020]

This post showcases two songs that were sung by Black soldiers during the United States Civil War. The term "Colored people" was used to refer to Black people in the United States during that time and afterwards until the 1960s. However, I changed that title to "Black" because I wanted to make sure that readers realized that "Colored people" was no longer the appropriate referent for Black Americans.

The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composers and collectors of these songs, and thanks to all those who fought and died so that Black people could receive our freedom.

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Give Us A Flag



uploaded by rexlibris99 on Sep 4, 2008

The person who wrote the song is unknown. He obviously had very strong feelings on the subject. An obviously non-PC word has been left in since it reflects the feelings of the times.

"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters 'US,' let him get an eagle upon his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States."
—Frederick Douglass

Vocalist: Richie Havens
-snip-
*"Give Us A Flag" includes one brief mention of what is now called "the n word". In spite of my real distaste for that word, I'm posting this song because of its historical importance.

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Here's another video about United States Colored Soldiers ("Colored" was the referent of respect for African Americans during that time). The video uploader also provides lyrics & footnotes to "Give Us A Flag".

United States Colored Troops - African American US Army Soldiers



United States Colored Troops - African American US Army Soldiers

Uploaded by rmorecook on Oct 5, 2008

From about the time of the American Civil War until shortly after World War II ended, Black American troops served in segregated units, usually led by white officers. [There were some exceptions.] They distinguished themselves well in combat during the Civil War, the Indian Wars, and World Wars I and II. In this video, the march of the Massachusetts 54th U.S. Colored Troops plays in the background. The tune is alternately titled Oh Give Us a Flag and The Colored Volunteer. The lyrics are below. [Thanks to another Youtuber for much of the video]

"THE COLORED VOLUNTEER" or "OH GIVE US A FLAG"
Verse 1
Fremont [Footnote 1] he told them when the war it first begun
How to save the Union and the way it should be done.
But Kentucky swore so hard [2] and old Abe [3] he had his fears
Til every hope was lost but the colored volunteers

[chorus follows]
O give us a flag, all free without a slave.
We'll fight to defend it as our fathers [4] did so brave.
The Gallant Compn'y A [5] will make the rebels dance
And we'll stand by the Union if we only have the chance

Verse 2
McClellan [6] went to Richmond with two hundred thousand brave.
He said, "keep back the niggers [7]," and the Union he would save.
Little Mac [8] he had his way -- still the Union is in tears --
NOW they call for help of the colored volunteers.
[repeat chorus]

Verse 3
Old Jeff [9] says he'll hang us if we dare to meet him armed.
A very big thing, but we are not at all alarmed.
For he has first got to catch us before the way is clear[10].
And "that is what's the matter with the colored volunteer."
[repeat chorus]

Verse 4
So rally, boys, rally, let us never mind the past;
We had a hard road to travel, but our day is coming fast.
For God is for the right, and we have no need to fear --
The Union must be saved by the colored volunteer.
[repeat chorus]

Verse 5
Then here is to the 54th [11], which has been nobly tried,
They were willing, they were ready, with their bayonets by their side,
Colonel Shaw [12]led them on and he had no cause to fear,
About the courage of the colored volunteer.
[repeat chorus]

Footnotes
[1] John C. Fremont, Republican candidate for President in 1856, Army general officer, and best known explorer to that date, except for Lewis and Clark.
[2] Kentucky was a border [Northern] state during the war. She threatened to join the South if the Union used African American troops
[3] President Abraham Lincoln at first hesitated to use African American soldiers.
[4] The first man to fall in the American Revolution was an African American, Crispus Attucks, who died in the "Boston Massacre".
[5] Company A of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers [Colored]
[6] Major Gen McClellan commanded Union troops at the start of the war.
[7] This term was widely used at the time as a sign of disrepect. Proper usage at the time was 'colored'.
[8] See Footnote 6 above.
[9] Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederated States of America [the South]
[10] Meaning, they would "die before being taken prisoner."
[11] 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored)
[12] Commanding Officer of the Regiment
-snip-
UPDATE: April 15, 2020
Here's a link to information about the 54th regiment in the United States Civil War from "Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military During the Civil War" https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war
..."In the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, President Lincoln announced that black men would be accepted into the U.S. Army and Navy. Of the estimated 2 million people who fought on the Union side, some 180,000 black soldiers and sailors fought for the Union and for freedom during the Civil War.
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was one of the most celebrated regiments of black soldiers that fought in the Civil War. Known simply as "the 54th," this regiment became famous after the heroic, but ill-fated, assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina. Leading the direct assault under heavy fire, the 54th suffered enormous casualties before being forced to withdraw. The courage and sacrifice of the 54th helped to dispel doubt within the Union Army about the fighting ability of black soldiers and earned this regiment undying battlefield glory. The 1989 film Glory tells the story of the 54th."
-snip-
Thanks to Unknown, April 24, 2020 for asking the question about the date "Give Us A Flag" was composed.
Based on that information, although the exact date that the song "Give Us A Flag" was composed isn't known, it had to have been after July 18th, 1863 when the assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina by the 54th regiment began.

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MARCHING SONG OF THE FIRST ARKANSAS
1. Oh, we're the bully soldiers of the “First of Arkansas,”
We are fighting for the Union, we are fighting for the law,
We can hit a Rebel further than a white man ever saw,
As we go marching on.

Chorus: Glory, glory hallelujah.
Glory, glory hallelujah.
Glory, glory hallelujah.
As we go marching on.

2. See, there above the center, where the flag is waving bright,
We are going out of slavery; we're bound for freedom's light;
We mean to show Jeff Davis how the Africans can fight,
As we go marching on!

(Chorus)

3. We have done with hoeing cotton, we have done with hoeing corn,
We are colored Yankee soldiers, now, as sure as you are born;
When the masters hear us yelling,
they'll think it's Gabriel's horn,
As we go marching on.

(Chorus)

4. They will have to pay us wages, the wages of their sin,
They will have to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin,
They will have to give us house-room, or the roof shall tumble in!
As we go marching on.

(Chorus)

5. We heard the Proclamation, master hush it as he will,
The bird he sing it to us, hoppin' on the cotton hill,
And the possum up the gum tree, he couldn't keep it still,
As he went climbing on.

(Chorus)

6. They said, “Now colored brethren, you shall be forever free,
From the first of January, Eighteen hundred sixty-three.”
We heard it in the river going rushing to the sea,
As it went sounding on.

(Chorus)

7. Father Abraham has spoken and the message has been sent,
The prison doors he opened, and out the pris'ners went,
To join the sable army of “African descent,”
As we go marching on.

(Chorus)

8. Then fall in, colored brethren, you'd better do it soon,
Don't you hear the drum a-beating the Yankee Doodle tune?
We are with you now this morning, we'll be far away at noon,
As we go marching on. (Chorus)

Lyric source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marching_Song_of_the_First_Arkansas
-snip-
Here's some information about that song from that same site:
"Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment" is one of the few Civil War-era songs inspired by the lyrical structure of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the tune of "John Brown's Body" that is still performed and recorded today. The "Marching Song" has been described as "a powerful early statement of black pride, militancy, and desire for full equality, revealing the aspirations of black soldiers for Reconstruction as well as anticipating the spirit of the civil rights movement of the 1960s." The song's lyrics are attributed to the regiment's white officer, Captain Lindley Miller. An almost identical song, “The Valiant Soldiers,” is attributed to Sojourner Truth in post-Civil War editions of her Narrative. Recent scholarship supports Miller as the original author, or at least compiler, of the “Marching Song.”...

There is no question that Truth sang the song; Painter cites a newspaper account of Truth singing a variation of "The Valiant Soldiers" in 1879 to the black settlers in Kansas known as Exodusters. But there is no evidence Truth composed the lyrics before Lindley Miller's "Marching Song" was published and widely distributed.

-snip-

Here's a link to a song file of "Sojourner's Battle Hymn":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwSZgLLqPy8 Sweet Honey in the Rock - Sojourner's Battle Hymn.wmv
[embedding disabled upon request]

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Editorial note: I was inspired to publish this post as a result of this verse from a South Carolina dance song entitled "Old Lady Booster":

Well, who’s been here since I been gone
Two little boys with their blue caps on.
Hang them on a hickory stick
Ranky tanky, button my shoes.
ranky tanky
Bufflalo boy gonna buy me a bag

-snip-
My theory is that the lines about "two boys in the blue caps" and the "Buffalo boy" refer to Union soldiers (but probably not "Colored" Union Soldiers").

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Here's a link to a short form of that post that I published on Pancocojams:
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-ranky-tanky-means.html What Ranky Tanky Means

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Here are two websites that contain information about African Americans in The Civil War:

African American Odyssey
The Civil War
Part 1: "Contrabands of War
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart4.html

and
African American Odyssey
The Civil War
Part 2: Fighting for Freedom | "Behold the Shackles Fall"
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart4b.html

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