“From ancient bards playing on harps to massed corps of pipes and drums, it seems wherever Celtic armies fought, they did so with the sound of their unmistakable music in the air.”

By Douglas Brown

MUSIC IS an indelible part of Celtic culture. Not surprisingly, when over the centuries the Irish, Scots and Welsh marched off to war, they took their distinctive folk songs with them. From ancient bards playing on harps to massed corps of pipes and drums, it seems wherever Celtic armies fought, they did so with the sound of their unmistakable music in the air. Here are eight Scottish and Irish folk melodies that could be heard at key moments in some of the more famous battles of the age of horse and musket.

Vimeiro and “Up and Warn All, Willie”

In 1807, Napoleon sent an army under General Junot to seize Portugal, thereby depriving the hated British of a strategic partner. In response, London dispatched a force under Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, to liberate their ally. Wellesley advanced to Vimeiro, north of Lisbon and took up a defensive position, daring Junot to come out and fight. As the French attack stalled, on Aug. 21, Bonaparte’s general sent two brigades to capture the high ground on Wellesley’s left flank. When the French reached the crest, they were surprised to discover redcoats, including soldiers of the 71^st Highland Light Infantry, waiting behind it using Wellesley’s soon-to-be-trademark “reverse slope” tactic. In the fighting that ensued, a regimental musician named George Clark regaled his comrades with a rendition of “Up and Warn All, Willie” on the bagpipes, despite being grievously wounded. This song tells the story of the Battle of Sheriffmuir during the 1715 Jacobite Revolt, famous in that the right wings of both the Jacobites and the Hanoverians routed the left wings opposing them. The “warning” refers to the Highland crantara, a call to battle. The British drove the French flanking force back, securing Wellesley the victory he needed to oust the French from Portugal. Clark survived the day, and according to a history of the regiment compiled in 1876 (p. 64), he was awarded a new stand of pipes by Scotland’s Highland Society for bravery.

“Garry Owen” and the Battle of Tarifa

In late December 1811, another small British force, assisting the Spanish in their rebellion against Napoleon, found itself besieged in the poorly fortified town of Tarifa, near Gibraltar in southern Spain. When the French finally overcame their logistical difficulties to bring up a siege train, they easily made a 60-foot-wide breach in the walls and knocked out the defenders’ artillery. On New Year’s Eve, the French launched an assault on the breach. As soldiers of the 87^th Prince of Wales’ Irish regiment blazed away from both sides of the breach, their band played “Garry Owen,” a vivacious Irish drinking song about the camaraderie among the rough-and-tumble youth of a part of Limerick known as Gerryowen or ‘garden of Eóin.” Without artillery support, the British, Irish, and Spanish troops repelled the French with one volley of punishing musketry after another. Many surrendered beneath the walls rather than endure a retreat under that fusillade. “Garry Owen,” a popular tune among British fife and drum bands, later became even more famous as the regimental song of General George Armstrong Custer’s 7^th U.S. Cavalry.

“The Haughs of Cromdale” and the Battle of Maya

By the summer of 1813, Sir Arthur Wellesley had driven the French out of Spain, but Napoleon’s Marshal Soult was preparing a counter strike across the Pyrenees. On July 25, General d’Erlon’s corps surprised the British at the Col de Maya. At first the French gained ground, but British resistance stiffened as the 92^nd Gordon Highlanders barred their way across a narrow road and engaged in a firefight with a whole French division for 20 minutes. As reinforcements came up, the British counterattacked. The 92^nd had been decimated in its valiant stand, but as soon as the pipe-major played “The Haughs of Cromdale,” the survivors were roused by the “mire chath” (Gaelic for “frenzy of battle”) and charged at the forefront of the British troops. “The Haughs of Cromdale” is a Jacobite song that plays extremely loose with the facts of the 1690 battle of the same name. How loose, you ask? Well, the ditty tells of a victory for the Jacobites that in reality wasn’t. It also credits the win to the heroism of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, who had been dead for 40 years. Nevertheless, by 1813 it was a classic that buoyed the spirits of the Gordon Highlanders at Maya.

“Scots Wha Hae” at Waterloo

It was June 18, 1815, and the Gordons stood on the Duke of Wellington’s left flank at Waterloo. They had taken a rough handling two days earlier at Quatre Bras, and, much reduced in numbers, they now watched as Napoleon himself rode out onto the field against them. To provide encouragement, one of the Highlanders sang “Scots Wha Hae,” Robbie Burns’ rousing and poetic rendition of Robert the Bruce’s speech to his Scottish army before they won their independence from England at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. At Waterloo, however, the singer cleverly changed the line from, “See approach proud Edward’s power,” to, “See approach Napoleon’s power.” An officer of the 92^nd recounted how this rallied the flagging spirits of the Gordons as they awaited the French onslaught.

“Hey, Johnnie Cope!”

As things turned out, Napoleon’s first main thrust at Waterloo was aimed precisely at the sector where the Gordons held their ground. He launched General d’Erlon’s corps at the weak British left, where a Belgian brigade gave way. The two British brigades waiting on the reverse slope of the ridge, including the Gordons, stepped forward. They gave the French a volley followed by a bayonet charge, turning back the leading elements of the French columns. As the Gordons fell back to reform, the British launched their heavy cavalry at the disordered French. The Scots Greys Dragoons passed through their countrymen in the 92^nd, hearing its Pipe-Major Cameron play the lively tune, “Hey, Johnnie Cope!” This witty song venomously lampoons an unfortunate British commander whose army was routed by the Jacobite Highlanders at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745. Though the lyrics are almost pure slander against the English, the song has always been popular with Highland regiments. The Gordons shouted, “Scotland forever!” and many grabbed the Greys’ stirrups to advance with them. The British cavalry charge “walked over this column,” taking 2,000 prisoners and two French eagles.

“Cogadh no Sith” 

The French employed two classic Napoleonic tactics at Waterloo: massed artillery bombardment and grandiose cavalry charges. When subjected to the latter midway through the battle, the redcoats, as per tactics of the era, famously formed closely packed squares to repel the French cavalry. Of course, this made the British troops vulnerable to the artillery fire that took over whenever the French horsemen receded. To encourage his regiment in the face of these dangers, Piper Kenneth MacKay of the 79^th Cameron Highlanders played the Gaelic song “Cogadh no Sith,” meaning “War or Peace.” This was a popular song celebrating the traditional lifestyle in their native land, but MacKay went a step further, playing from outside the 79^th’s square. The regiment became one of a handful that would later be mentioned in dispatches by Wellington, while MacKay would receive a set of silver-mounted pipes from the king.

“Will You Come to the Bower?” at San Jacinto

On April 21, 1836, the future of Texas lay in the balance. Mexican General Santa Anna’s army, having massacred the garrisons of the Alamo and Goliad, had chased the Texas revolutionaries under Sam Houston clear across the future Lone Star state. Houston had been waiting for Santa Anna to make a fatal mistake, however, and the self-styled Mexican Napoleon had done just that. Having divided his forces, Santa Anna had marched his men hard to catch Houston, and now his isolated contingent was exhausted. Santa Anna assumed Houston, who was hidden nearby, would make no attack that day and stood his men down. The Texians, many of whom were transplanted Irishmen, seized the opportunity and launched a surprise attack. After marching in silence, they descended on the Mexican camp at San Jacinto near present-day Pasadena, Texas, their fifes and drums played the Irish love song, “Will You Come to the Bower?” In just 18 minutes, the Mexican army was overwhelmed, and the next day Santa Anna was captured. He would be forced to sign away his claims to Texas.

“The Campbells Are Coming” to Gettysburg

The bloodbath of Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863, between lead elements of Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army invading Pennsylvania and dismounted Union cavalry under General John Buford. Knowing that the high ground around the small town was too important to give up to the enemy without a fight, Buford’s cavalry fought a delaying action until the Union infantry could come up. When Federal troops did arrive, they came in the form of the finest brigade in the Union Army of the Potomac, the Iron Brigade. Its musicians, which played for regiments from Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, banged out the Scottish standard “The Campbells Are Coming” as they marched to Buford’s rescue – the Campbells having been for centuries one of the most powerful clans in the West Highlands of Scotland. The Iron Brigade shattered the troops opposing them and took up a defensive position on MacPherson’s Ridge, which they stubbornly defended through much of the rest of the day. Though eventually driven back, the Iron Brigade had delayed the Confederates long enough for the Federal army to occupy even better ground south of Gettysburg. The Confederates would dash themselves futilely against this ground for the next two days, giving the Union forces a victory that would turn the tide of the Civil War.

Douglas Brown is a Texas-based writer who specializes in military history and historical fiction. His novel The Honorable Spy was released by Cheetah Publishing in July of 2022. Buy it on Amazon HERE. Follow him on Twitter @DougBrownAuthor or Instagram at douglasbrownauthor, or like his Facebook page, “Douglas Brown – Author.”

 

 

 

SOURCES

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