The Bonnie Blue Flag

Cover of the 1861 sheet music for "The Bonnie Blue Flag"

"The Bonnie Blue Flag", also known as "We Are a Band of Brothers", is an 1861 marching song associated with the Confederate States of America. The words were written by the Ulster-Scots entertainer Harry McCarthy, with the melody taken from the song "The Irish Jaunting Car". The song's title refers to the unofficial first flag of the Confederacy, the Bonnie Blue Flag.

The song was premiered by lyricist Harry McCarthy 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 for the First Texas Volunteer Infantry regiment mustering in celebration.

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 "band of brothers" mentioned in the first line of the song recalls the well known St. Crispin's Day Speech in William Shakespeare's play Henry V (Act IV, scene ii).

Lyrical variations

The Bonnie Blue Flag, referred to in the song.

The first verse of the song goes:

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.

Although the second line is sometimes given as "fighting for our liberty with treasure, blood, and toil", University of San Diego professor Steve Schoenherr and the library of Duke University record the "property" version. According to Schoenherr, the song sheet was first published in 1861 by A. E. Blackmar and Brother in New Orleans. When Major General Benjamin Butler captured New Orleans, he allegedly arrested Blackmar, fined Blackmar $500, destroyed all copies of the music, and ordered that anyone caught whistling or singing "The Bonnie Blue Flag" would be fined $25 (roughly $500 in the 1860s). Eleven other editions of the song were published with different lyrics.

Complete lyrics

1. 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.

2. As long as the Union was faithful to her trust

Like friends and like brethren, 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

3. First gallant South Carolina nobly made the stand

Then came Alabama and 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

4. 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 statesmen rare

Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

Chorus

5. Now here's to brave Virginia, the Old Dominion State,

With the young Confederacy at last has sealed her fate,

And spurred by her example, now other states prepare

To hoist high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

Chorus

6. Then cheer, boys, cheer, raise a 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

7. Then here's to our Confederacy, strong we are 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

Historical inaccuracies

The third verse of the song misstates the order in which the states seceded from the Union. The dates on which the states seceded are as follows:

South Carolina (December 20, 1860), Mississippi (January 9, 1861), Florida (January 10, 1861), Alabama (January 11, 1861), Georgia (January 19, 1861), Louisiana (January 26, 1861), Texas (February 1, 1861), Virginia (April 17, 1861), Arkansas (May 6, 1861), North Carolina (May 20, 1861), and Tennessee (June 8, 1861).

Thus, Alabama did not take South Carolina by the hand, but delayed its secession until the departure of Mississippi and Florida. The most likely reason for the discrepancy is literary license and a desire to fit within a certain poetic meter.

Union versions

As with many songs from the time of the American Civil War, this song had multiple versions for both the Union and Confederate sides. One Union version, written by J.L. Geddes, in 1863, a British-born colonel who immigrated to the U.S., was called "The Bonnie Flag With the Stripes and Stars". Singing of Unionism and equality, it went:

We're fighting for our Union,

We're fighting for our trust,

We're fighting for that happy land

Where sleeps our father dust.

It cannot be dissevered,

Though it cost us bloody wars,

We never can give up the land

Where floats the stripes and stars.

Chorus: Hurrah, Hurrah,

For equal rights hurrah,

Hurrah for the good old flag

That bears the stripes and stars.

We trusted you as brothers,

Until you drew the sword,

With impious hands at Sumter

You cut the silver cord.

So now you hear the bugles,

We come the sons of Mars,

To rally round the brave old flag

That bears the stripes and stars.

Chorus

We do not want your cotton,

We do not want your slaves,

But rather than divide the land,

We'll fill your Southern graves.

With Lincoln for our chieftain,

We wear our country's stars,

And rally round the brave old flag

That bears the stripes and stars.

Chorus

We deem our cause most holy,

We know we're in the right,

And twenty million freemen

Stand ready for the fight.

Our pride is fair Columbia,

No stain her beauty mars,

On her we'll raise the brave old flag

That bears the stripes and stars.

Chorus

And when this war is over,

We'll each resume our home,

And treat you still as brothers,

Where ever you may roam.

We'll pledge the hand of friendship,

And think no more of war,

But dwell in peace beneath the flag

That bears the stripes and stars.

Chorus

Another version went.

We are a band of Patriots who each leave home and friend,

Our noble Constitution and our Banner to defend,

Our Capitol was threatened, and the cry rose near and far,

To protect our Country's glorious Flag that glitters with many a star.

Chorus

Hurrah, Hurrah, for the Union, boys Hurrah

Hurrah for our forefather's Flag,

that glitters with many a star.

Much patience and forbearance, the North has always shown,

Toward her Southern brethren, who had each way their own;

But when we made our President—a man whom we desired,

Their wrath was roused, they mounted guns, and on Fort Sumter fired.

They forced the war upon us, for peaceful men are we,

They steal our money, seize our forts, and then as cowards flee,

False to their vows, and to the Flag, that once protected them,

They sought the Union to dissolve, earth's noblest, brightest, gem.

We're in the right, and will prevail, the Stars and Stripes must fly!

The "Bonnie Blue Flag" will be hauled down and every traitor die,

Freedom and Peace enjoyed by all, as ne'er was known before,

Our spangled Banner wave on high, with stars just Thirty Four

Additionally, the Song of the Irish Volunteers, an anthem of the famous 69th New York regiment known as the Irish Brigade, was sung to the same tune.

In popular culture

• In the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind Rhett Butler names his child 'Bonnie Blue Butler' after Melanie Hamilton remarks that the child's eyes are as "blue as the Bonnie Blue flag".
• In the 1956 movie The Searchers the song playing as John Wayne approaches at the beginning of the film is a slow version of "The Bonnie Blue Flag".
• In the 1959 movie The Horse Soldiers, the chorus of the Bonnie Blue Flag is sung by a marching company of Mississippi military school cadets, who face the Union cavalry in an effort to delay their progress. It is loosely based on the unrelated charge of the Virginia Military Institute cadets at the Battle of New Market, 15 May 1864.
• In the 1966 movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the chorus of the Bonnie Blue Flag is sung by a band of drunken revelers as they drop off Maria at her home in Santa Anna.
• The 1972 television series Appointment with Destiny made the error of portraying Union soldiers singing "The Bonnie Blue Flag."
• In the 1999 television movie The Hunley about the H.L. Hunley submarine in South Carolina during the American Civil War, the Bonnie Blue Flag song is sung to raise civilians' spirits during a Union bomb attack on the city.
• In the 2003 movie Gods and Generals, the ode to the Bonnie Blue Flag is sung in front of the Confederate Army.
• In a 2012 episode of the show Hell on Wheels entitled "Viva la Mexico", the chorus of the song is sung by Confederate soldiers-turned-bandits.
• In the 2013 video game BioShock Infinite, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" is played on a phonograph during the chapter "Hall of Heroes."
• In the 2015 film The Gettysburg Address, "Bonnie Blue Flag" is performed by President Lincoln's Own Band, and appears on the film's soundtrack by Milan Records.

External links

• "The Bonnie Blue Flag", Polk Miller and his Old South Quartet (Edison Blue Amberol 2175, 1913)—Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project.
• A performance of the song in the 2003 film Gods and Generals, in a scene set in a Confederate camp which includes cameo appearances by Ted Turner and U.S. Senators George Allen (R-Va) and Robert Byrd (D-WV).
• Sheet music for "The Bonnie Blue Flag", from Project Gutenberg
• Images of the original sheet music (1861) for "The Bonnie Blue Flag" at the Duke University library
• MIDI for "The Bonnie Blue Flag", from Project Gutenberg
• Bonnie Blue Flag (Full Version)
• The short film A NATION SINGS (1963) is available for free download at the Internet Archive.