The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #166643 Message #4009155
Posted By: Lighter
16-Sep-19 - 04:13 PM
Thread Name: Tune Req: Derry Down
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Derry Down
It did not, Steve.
The words were supplied by Bvt. Lt. Col. W. R. Smedberg, U.S. Army, at the request of his friend, Maj. F. W. Peirce. The song was found "among some old papers of his father's, John Peirce, Professor of Mathematics on board the _Congress_ when Adm. Porter was 1st lieutenant and Raphael Semmes was a middy."
The vague dating to the time of early careers of David Dixon Porter (one of the most celebrated Union naval officers of the Civil War) and Raphael Semmes (commander of the Confederate raider "Alabama") indicates the '30s.
"John Peirce, Jr." is listed as "School-master" (of the midshipmen) in the frigate _Brandywine_ by The Army & Navy Chronicle I (June 4, 1835), p. 184.