Lonesome EJ - is that Tim Erikson's? He says he made the tune and compiled the words from various sources.

Here are a couple of Ballad Index entries on the Cruel War type of song (you can see by the cross references that there are more than these two sets). When it says "earliest date", that's defined as "The earliest date at which we could verify, from print or manuscript, that the ballad was in circulation; obviously this is subject to correction."

We'll see how my HTML prettyifying attempts work.

~ Becky in Tucson

Girl Volunteer, The [Laws O33]

DESCRIPTION: (Johnny) has been ordered off to war. His sweetheart begs to go with him. He refuses her; military service would fade her beauty. She offers to buy his release; this too fails. (In some versions Johnny relents and allows her to come.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916
KEYWORDS: war soldier separation love cross-dressing
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws O33, "The Girl Volunteer"
Randolph 44, "Johnny Must Fight" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Combs/Wilgus 109, pp. 178-179, "I'm Going to Join the Army" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 272, "The Cruel War Is Raging" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 131-132, "May I Go With You, Johnny?" (1 text)
DT 487, CRUELWAR* CRUELWR2*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Steele, "The War Is A-Ragin' For Johnny" (on PSteele01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Manchester Angel"
cf. "Jack Monroe" [Laws N7]
cf. "William and Nancy I" [Laws N8]
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9]
cf. "High Germany"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Cruel War
Notes: The Combs version of this song contains a reference to Pensacola -- the port from which many American troops set out for Cuba during the Spanish-American war (1898). The song is clearly much older than that, however. - RBW
File: LO33

William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I) [Laws N8]

DESCRIPTION: (William) has been ordered to war. His sweetheart (Nancy) offers to dress in men's clothes and accompany him. William says that Nancy is not strong enough; she assures him she will be. At last he agrees; they are married and go off together
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904
KEYWORDS: separation cross-dressing marriage war
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Britain(England(South)) Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws N8, "William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I)"
Randolph 42, "Men's Clothing I'll Put On" (Of Randolph's six texts, Laws puts only B, D, and E -- the last with melody -- with this song. In fact any of these versions -- especially B and E -- might be part of "The Banks of the Nile." "A" definitely goes with that piece, and C and F go with "Jack Monroe")
FSCatskills 29, "It Was Early One Monday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 34, "William and Polly (Lisbon)" (1 text, 1 tune, "slightly shortened")
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 58-59, "Lisbon" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H561, p. 458, "Lovely Annie (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN1749, "Margaret my sweetest, Margaret I must go" (listed as Laws N4 though the description sounds more like this piece)
DT 442, BANKNIL4 (BANKNIL2*?) BANKNIL3*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jack Monroe" [Laws N7]
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9]
cf. "High Germany"
cf. "Johnny Must Fight (The Cruel War is Raging)"
File: LN08