First Minnesota Song (Company G Song)

(From a broadside in the Minnesota Historical Society collection, with a modern tune.)

RW Version: 

Now boys come and listen, a story I’ll tell
‘Tis of a company which you know full well.
‘Tis all of a company so gallant and free,
And the name it is known by is Company “G.”

Chorus:
So look out, bold Jeff Davis, and traitors beware,
The boys from the West are bound to be there,
The boys of this reg’ment are spoiling to see
The Southern Chivalry headed by thee.

To fight for our country, our homes, and our laws,
To fight like our fathers in the same glorious cause;
The President to aid and our country to free,
Is what we are after in Company “G.”

You have robbed and you’ve plundered, with traitorous hands,
And thought you had sundered the strongest of bands —
The Union — that made you respected and free,
And its flag you’ve discarded for an old snake and tree.

Willis A. Gorman.

Willis A. Gorman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With McKune to lead us, and Gorman command,
With Dike too, and Messick, and Smith hand in hand,
The foe we’ll encounter, their duty we’ll show,
For “there is a North,” we will soon let them know.

The ladies, God bless them, they love all the boys,
That, for duty, have left their dear home and its joys,
To fight and to conquer, the rebels they know,
Is what made us all from their presence to go.

But when we come back with our honors and spoils,
And when we have done with this war and its toils,
The dear little creatures so happy will be,
I am sure they will kiss all from Company “G.”

2 thoughts on “First Minnesota Song (Company G Song)

  1. Walter Sigtermans

    Is there an original version of the First Minnesota Song (Company G Song)?
    Is it possible to get the sheet music to the original First Minnesota anthem?

    Reply
    1. RBW Post author

      If you download the printed songbook, you will see that there is NO sheet music, and only one copy of the text in existence, in the Minnesota Historical Society archives. The songbook includes a reproduction of the broadside print. There is no indication of the tune; since the printers seem to have been members of the company, they could sing it to the other men in the formation. Odds are that it was set to some well-known tune of the time, but we have no idea what.

      The tune to which it is recorded is the one that came to me as I stared at it, coming from the large collection of traditional tunes in my head. It is probably not the one used at the time

      Reply

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