Origins: When We Fit for General Grant

Subject: Origins: When We Fit for General Grant
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 04:10 PM

Casey asks if anybody has background information on this song.

A Version of a Song Mentioning General Grant
as Sung by Francis P. Fisher (1879-1963) During the 1950’s


I remember, I remember the days of ‘49 [1849],
When the old horse stuck in the mire;
And Squire Bill Jones came runnin’ down the road,
A-shoutin’, “There’s a fire!”
Then I called to my wife for to fetch my rubber boots,
And I kissed my gal Irene;
And Squire Bill and I went whizzin’ down the road
For to run with the old machine.

(CHORUS)
For to run with the old machine, by gum!
For to run with the old machine;
And Squire Bill and I went whizzin’ down the road
For to run with the old machine.

I remember, I remember the days of ‘61 [1861],
When the cannon balls were flying by the peck;
Along came one, a-whizzin’ through the air,
And hit Bill Jones in the neck.
Then up spoke Bill with a bullet in his neck,
“They’re a-tryin’ for to kill me but they can’t”--
Them good old days beneath the Stars and Stripes
When we fit [fought] for Gen’ral Grant.

(CHORUS)
When we fit for Gen’ral Grant, by gum!
When we fit for Gen’ral Grant–
Them good old days beneath the Stars and Stripes
When we fit for Gen’ral Grant.

Subject: RE: Origins: When We Fit for General Grant
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 06:48 PM

Sung by Harvard grads in 1907.

https://tinyurl.com/2ydx634e

Subject: RE: Origins: When We Fit for General Grant
From: GUEST,diplocase
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 08:12 PM

This was in connection with a question asked on the ballad listserv.

Steve Woodbury of the Folklore Society of Greater Washington found this article from a 1968 Journal of Western Folklore, though: When We Fit for General Grant - JSTOR

Subject: RE: Origins: When We Fit for General Grant
From: cnd
Date: 28 Nov 22 - 09:34 AM

An account from The Honolulu Advertiser (Jan 30 1972) noted that the song "was sung with Yankee twang and pronunciation."

Earliest mention of the song I've come across is from November 18th, 1898 -- Harvard again comes up, as the song was described in a column dedicated to "Entertaining the Harvard [Football] Team at Their Meridian Hotel" (Holyoke Daily Transcript, November 18 1898).

Subject: RE: Origins: When We Fit for General Grant
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 29 Nov 22 - 05:21 PM

Nice find, Carter.

It's worth mentioning that nobody was "fighting for General Grant" (or Lee, for that matter) in 1861.

The song was well enough known that it provided the title of a short 1906 book by Roger D. Swaim ("When We Fit for General Grant") about Massachussetts National Guard maneuvers at Manassas, Virginia, in the year 1904. The book was privately issued in Cambridge.

As for the tune...

It's here. And it's a whole lot like that of the Child ballad, U.S. Navy song, and college and Clancy Bros. fave, "The Mermaid":

https://tinyurl.com/2p9abvsj

The arrangement was by C. Lawrence Smith, Jr., Class of '97.