The American Civil War is a great place to look for inspirational battle tunes. "Give Us A Flag" was written anonymously by a soldier in the Massachusetts 54th (the famed regiment compiled of black soldiers, which was the basis for the movie "Glory"). The song pleads for the "coloured volunteers" to be given the right to defend their country and prove their bravery in the face of the Confederacy. Ultimately, they did just that in a final suicidal charge against Fort Wagner. Whether or not they actually sang it in battle, I don't know. During the heat of the fighting at Williamsburg, U.S. Army Commander Heintzelman tried to rally his broken ranks by ordering the regimental band to take up their instruments and "Play, dammit-it's all you're good for! Play 'Yankee Doodle' or any doodle you can think of!" Over the guns came "Yankee Doodle" followed by "Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue". A Union soldier later reported that the rousing music "won us the battle". On the Confederate side, at Gettysburg, the rebel band played "Nearer, My Heart, To Thee" every time they pushed back the yankees. Also, the Irish were great ones for patriotic rebel-rousing. At Antietam (sp) the Irish Brigade sang "The Harp of Old Erin" and the 37th New York "Irish Rifles" reportedly liked to sing "Free and Green" in battle. Anyway, I don't have the words to these songs on hand, but you should be able to find them easily enough either here or elsewhere on the web. If you can't, let me know and I'll try to dig them up for you. (And Dad said my courses in American History and Folklore was a waste of hard-earned money!) By the way, Steve is right..."Follow Me Up to Carlow" is wonderful! And, even if it is modern (I don't know), it was born to be a great, old fighting song! Good Luck!