War and march · 1861 · Americas
The Bonnie Blue Flag
A marching song of 1861 for the Confederate States, the Southern states that broke away from the United States in the Civil War.
- Words
- Harry McCarthy
- Music
- not known (the melody of "The Irish Jaunting Car")
- Culture
- the Confederate States of America
- Language
- English
- Place
- Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
- Date
- 1861 (first sung in Jackson, Mississippi, spring 1861; published in New Orleans, 1861)
- Type
- War and march
- The words
- Public domain (lyrics by Harry McCarthy, published 1861; melody of "The Irish Jaunting Car")
This song is about hard things from the past, like war, cruelty or death. You can read about it with a grown-up.
The story
"The Bonnie Blue Flag", also known as "We Are a Band of Brothers", is a marching song of 1861 associated with the Confederate States of America. The entertainer Harry McCarthy wrote the words and set them to the melody of "The Irish Jaunting Car". The title refers to the Bonnie Blue Flag, the unofficial first flag of the Confederacy. McCarthy first sang it at a concert in Jackson, Mississippi, in the spring of 1861, and again that September at the New Orleans Academy of Music for the First Texas Volunteer Infantry regiment. The New Orleans publisher A. E. Blackmar issued six editions between 1861 and 1864, with three further arrangements.
The song names the seceding states one by one and so serves as a list of them, though for the sake of the metre it changes the order in which they left the Union, from South Carolina on 20 December 1860 to Tennessee on 8 June 1861. Its editions differ: the 1861 Blackmar edition held by the Library of Congress gives the Confederates' cause as liberty, while another 1861 edition, held by Duke University's library, gives it as property gained by honest toil; eleven other editions were published with different words. When Union Major General Benjamin Butler captured New Orleans he is said to have arrested Blackmar, fined him $500, destroyed the copies of the music and fined anyone caught singing or whistling the song $25. Annie Chambers Ketchum, a Confederate widow, published new verses as "The Gathering Song".
The Union answered with its own versions. J. L. Geddes, a British-born colonel, wrote "The Bonnie Flag With the Stripes and Stars" in 1863, singing of the Union and of equality, and a Mrs C. Sterett published another in New York; the 69th New York regiment of the Irish Brigade sang its "Song of the Irish Volunteers" to the same tune. After the war the song lived on in recordings, such as Polk Miller and his Old South Quartet's cylinder of 1913, and in films of the Civil War and the West, from Gone with the Wind (1939) and The Searchers (1956) to Gettysburg (1993) and Gods and Generals (2003).
What it says
A rallying song of the Confederacy that presents the seceding states as a band of brothers joining one by one under a single flag to fight for their cause. Its mood is proud and martial.
The words
We are a band of brothers, and native to the soil,
Fighting for our liberty with treasure, blood, and toil;
And when our rights were threatened, and the cry rose near and far,
Hurrah! for the Bonnie Blue Flag, that bears a single star!
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Southern rights, hurrah!
Hurrah! for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!
As long as the Union was faithful to her trust
Like friends and like brothers, kind we were 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.
First gallant South Carolina nobly made the stand,
Then came Alabama, who took her by the hand;
Next quickly, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida,
All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Ye men of valor gather round the banner of the Right
Texas and fair Louisiana join us in the fight
and Davis serve, our loved President, and Stephens, statesman rare
Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Now here's to brave Virginia, the Old Dominion State,
With the young Confederacy at length has linked her fate,
Impelled by her example, now other states prepare
To hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
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.
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.
Words: Harry McCarthy (1861). Text from Wikipedia; public domain.
What it inspired
- The Gathering Song (Annie Chambers Ketchum)new verses
- The Bonnie Flag With the Stripes and Stars (J. L. Geddes) 1863Union answer song
- Union version by Mrs C. SterettUnion answer song
- Song of the Irish Volunteers (69th New York regiment)same melody
- Polk Miller and his Old South Quartet 1913recording
What it drew on
- The Irish Jaunting Carsame melody
- St Crispin's Day speech, Henry V (William Shakespeare)the "band of brothers" phrase recalls it
People, places and events
Sources
- Wikipedia, "The Bonnie Blue Flag", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonnie_Blue_Flag
- Gilberta S. Whittle, eulogy of Annie Chambers Ketchum, Richmond Times Dispatch, 1904
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). The Bonnie Blue Flag. In Songs in History. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/the-bonnie-blue-flag
- MLA
- “The Bonnie Blue Flag.” Songs in History, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/the-bonnie-blue-flag. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “The Bonnie Blue Flag.” Songs in History. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/the-bonnie-blue-flag.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘The Bonnie Blue Flag’, Songs in History. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/the-bonnie-blue-flag (Accessed: ).