Lyr, Add: MARCHING DOWN TO OLD QUEBEC
(Canadian version)
Oh, we're marching down to old Quebec
And the fifes and drums are beating,
For the British boys have gained the day,
And the Yankees are retreating,
So we'll turn back and we'll come again
To the place where we first started,
And we'll open the ring and we'll take a couple in,
Since they proved that they are true-hearted.

Used in a play party game "in which couples march around in a ring until they come to the line: "So we'll come back." At that point each couple does an about-face as quickly as possible, and the couple that is slowest in making the turn has to drop out of the circle. ThThen at the words: "And we'll open the ring," the circle is broken for a moment, and the boy and girl outside rush to get in before it is closed again.

"When the American Revolution broke out, its leaders prepared an address asking for the support of the 'oppressed inhabitants of Canada" [French], but the French Canadians, in the Quebec Act of 1774, had been guaranteed religious freedom, and French Civil Law."
The Americans did take Montreal and held it during the winter of 1775, but had to retreat in the spring.   
Edith Fowke, Alan Mills and Helmut Blume, 1960?, "Canada's Story in Song," W, J. Gage Ltd., Toronto.

An American version had the lines:
The Americans have won the day
And the British are retreating.

Lyr. Add: MARCHING TO QUEBEC
(American version, a)

As we were marching to Quebec,
The drums were loudly beating;
The Americans have won the day
The British are retreating.
March! march! march! march!

"The game was played in Philadelphia in the childhood of a lady born at the end of the last century" (c. 1800). "In Massachusetts and Maine it continued to be popular to within a few years (of 1880), as follows"

Lyr. Add: MARCHING TO QUEBEC
(American version, b)

We were marching to Quebec,
The drums were loudly beating;
America has gained the day,
The British are retreating.

The war is o'er, and they are turned back,
Forevermore departed;
So open the ring, and take one in,
For they are broken-hearted.

Oh, you're the one that I love best,
I praise you high and dearly;
My heart you'll get, my hand I'll give
The kiss is most sincerely.
(Worcester, Mass.)

"This piece of doggerel may be of Revolutionary origin, as it can be traced to near the beginning of the present century" (1800).

QUEBEC TOWN

We are marching down to Quebec town,
Where the drums and fifes are beating;
The Americans have gained the day,
The British are retreating.
The war's all over; we'll turn back
To friends, no more to be parted;
We'll open our ring, and receive another in,
To relieve the broken-hearted.

"The manner of playing was as follows: The song was sung by the whole company as it marched around one person, who was blindfolded and seated in a chair placed in the centre of the room. He or she selected a partner by touching one of the ring with a long stick held for the purpose. The game concluded:
Put a hat on her head to keep her warm,
And a loving, sweet kiss will do her no harm."
(North Carolina)

Newell, op. cit., No. 176, p. 246.

More later. Please post versions with floaters allied to Pretty Little Pink in that thread (34525).


W. W. Newell, 1883, "Games and Songs of American Children," no. 59, p. 125