Sargent, Winthrop, ed.; Franklin, Benjamin; Orme, Robert; Napier, Robert; Croghan, George; Gentleman's Magazine. The History of an Expedition Against Fort Du Quesne, in 1755; Under Major-General Braddock, Generalissimo of H. B. M. Forces in America. Edited from the Original Manuscripts, by Winthrop Sargent, M.A., Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania . Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Co, 1856. [format: book], [genre: diary; government document; history; letter; narrative; report]. Permission: Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, Aurora University
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=winthrop.html

THE poetical sensibilities of the nation do not seem to have been very strongly affected by the inception or by the failure of Braddock's Expedition. A few copies of contemporaneous verses having fallen in my way, however, they are preserved here, as part of the res gestae.

[This jingling provincial ballad was composed in Chester County, Pennsylvania, while the army was on its march in the spring or early summer of 1755. During the Revolution it was still a favourite song there, the name of Lee being substituted for Braddock's. It has never, I believe, appeared in print before. There is no doubt of its authenticity.]

To arms, to arms! my jolly grenadiers!
Hark, how the drums do roll it along!
To horse, to horse, with valiant good cheer;
We'll meet our proud foe, before it is long.
Let not your courage fail you:
Be valiant, stout and bold;
And it will soon avail you,
My loyal hearts of gold.
Huzzah, my valiant countrymen! — again I say huzzah!
'Tis nobly done — the day's our own — huzzah, huzzah!

March on, march on, brave Braddock leads the foremost;
The battle is begun as you may fairly see.
Stand firm, be bold, and it will soon be over;
We'll soon gain the field from our proud enemy.
A squadron now appears, my boys;
If that they do but stand!
Boys, never fear, be sure you mind
The word of command!
Huzzah, my valiant countrymen! again I say huzzah!
'Tis nobly done — the day's our own — huzzah, huzzah!

See how, see how, they break and fly before us!
See how they are scattered all over the plain!
Now, now — now, now, our country will adore us!
In peace and in triumph, boys, when we return again!
Then laurels shall our glory crown
For all our actions told:
The hills shall echo all around,
My loyal hearts of gold.
Huzzah, my valiant countrymen! — again I say huzzah!
'Tis nobly done — the day's our own — huzzah, huzzah!

[The following lines are from the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XXV., p. 383 (Aug. 1755). It would seem that they were first published as a broadside and sold through the streets.]

Beneath some Indian shrub, if chance you spy
The brave remains of murder'd Braddock lie,
Soldiers, with shame the guilty place survey,
And weep, that here your comrades fled away.
Then, with his brother-chiefs ⁴²⁹ encircled round,
Possess the hero's bones of hostile ground,
And plant the English Oak, ⁴³⁰ that gave his name,
Fit emblem of his valour and his fame!
Broad o'er this stream ⁴³¹ shall thus his honours grow,
And last as long as e'er its waters flow!

[From XXV. Gent. Mag. (Sept. 1755), p. 421.]

Ah! Braddock, why did you persuade
To stand and fight each recreant blade,
That left thee in the wood?
They knew that those who run away,
Might live to fight another day,
But all must die that stood.

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