Origins: The Heights of Alma

Subject: Lyr Add: The Heights of Alma
From: GUEST,Wally Macnow
Date: 18 Apr 19 - 03:49 PM

I was missing a line from a version of The Heights of Alma that I learned from Barry O'Neill around 1976 so I came to Mudcat to find it. When I looked up the song, I found tunes that were unlike the one I know. Also, the lyric was not quite the same. I found the line that I was looking for but thought I'd post the lyric that I learned from Barry. I'm not familiar enough with software to post the tune, however.

THE HEIGHTS OF ALMA

It was on September the eighteenth day
Beneath the salt sea’s dashing spray,
We landed safe in the Crimay
Bound for the heights of Alma.

That night we slept on the cold, cold ground,
No food or lodging could be found,
By rain, we were allnearly drowned
That very night at Alma.

Next morn the burning sun did rise
Above those cloudless eastern skies,
Our gallant chief, Lord Raglan, cries,
"Prepare my boys for Alma."

When Alma’s heights they came in view,
The stoutest heart it would subdue
To see that mighty Russian crew
Stand on the heights of Alma.

The bullets fell as thick as rain
When we their heights did try to gain,
And many a hero there was slain
That very day at Alma.

Then the 33rd of our fusiliers
They gained the heights and gave three cheers,
Their cheering voice fret our ears
Us highland lads at Alma

Us highland lads as you might suppose,
We were not less in our kilt and hose.
We boldly fought those Russian foes,
And victory gained at Alma,

And when their heights we did command,
We bravely fought them hand to hand
And there we made those Russians stand,
And victory gained at Alma

To Sevastopol those Russians fled,
Leaving their wounded and their dead,
The rivers, they ran crimson red
With blood that flowed at Alma

Six hundred Britons I’ve heard say,
Were slain upon the field that day
And eighteen hundred Russians lay
All in their gore at Alma

It’s many the mothers tears will roll,
And none the sister can console,
The widows mourn without control,
For their husbands dead at Alma

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Heights of Alma
From: RTim
Date: 18 Apr 19 - 04:26 PM

A song brilliantly recorded by Ian Robb on Dan MIlner produced recording - Irish Songs from Old New England...see - https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/irishsongsfromoldnewengland.html
https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/irishsongsfromoldnewengland.html


Tim Radford

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https://mainlynorfolk.info/nic.jones/songs/theheightsofalma.html

Subject: ADD Version: The Heights of Alma
From: Gordon Jackson
Date: 19 Apr 19 - 04:34 AM

Here's the version recorded by Nic Jones. Note there's an extra beat in the chorus (there's also one in the last verse). I also have the tune, again different to what's in the Digitrad, and mostly in 4/4 but I don't know how to post it.


THE HEIGHTS OF ALMA

September last on the eighteenth day
We landed safe at the big Crimea
In spite of all the splashing spray
To cheer our hearts for Alma
That night we lay on the cold cold ground
No tent nor shelter to be found
And with the rain was almost drowned
Upon the Heights of Alma

Then Britain's sons may long remember
The glorious twentieth of September
We caused the Russians to surrender
On the Heights of Alma

Next morning a scorching sun did rise
Beneath the eastern cloudy skies
Our noble chief Lord Raglan cries
Prepare to march for Alma
Oh when the heights we hove in view
The stoutest heart it could subdue
To see the Russian warlike crew
Upon the Heights of Alma

Their city was well fortified
With batteries on every side
Our noble chief Lord Raglan cried
We'll get hot work at Alma
Their shot it flew like winter rain
When we their batteries strove to gain
Fifteen hundred Frenchmen slain
In the bloody gore at Alma

Our Scottish lads with sword in hose
Were not the last as you may suppose
But daring faced their daring foes
And gained the Heights of Alma
To Sebastopol the Russians fled
They left the wounded and the dead
The rivers there that they run red
From the blood was spilled on Alma

There was fifteen hundred Frenchmen I heard say
Had fell upon that fatal day
And eighteen hundred Russians lay
In the bloody gore at Alma
Now France and England hand in hand
What ne'er a foe could them withstand
So let it run throughout the land
The victory won at Alma

Subject: Lyr Add: THE HEIGHTS OF ALMA
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Apr 19 - 09:42 AM

From Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland edited, with notes, by Robert Ford (Paisley and London: Alexander Gardner, 1901), page 73 (where musical notation for a melody line is also given):

THE HEIGHTS OF ALMA

[1] Ye loyal Britons, pray, give ear,
Unto the news I bring you here;
While joy each Briton's heart doth cheer,
For the vict'ry gained at Alma.
'Twas on September the fourteenth day,
In spite of the salt sea's dashing spray,
We landed safe on the Crimea,
All on the route for Alma.

[2] That night we lay on the cold ground,
No tent nor shelter could be found;
With rain we all were nearly drowned,
To cheer us for the Alma.
Next morn a burning sun did rise,
Beneath the cloudless Eastern skies;
Our gallant chief, Lord Raglan, cries—
"Prepare to march for Alma."

[3] And when the Alma came in view,
It did the stoutest heart subdue,
To see the mighty Russian crew,
Upon the heights of Alma.
They were so strongly fortified,
With batteries on the mountain-side,
Our general viewed the forts, and cried—
"There'll be hot work at Alma."

[4] The balls did fall as thick as rain,
When we the batteries tried to gain,
And many a hero there was slain
Upon the heights of Alma.
The Thirty-third and the Fusiliers,
They climbed the hills and gave three cheers;
While "Faugh a ballagh" rent our ears,
From the Irish boys at Alma.

[5] Our Highland lads, with kilt and hose,
They were not last, you may suppose;
But boldly faced their Russian foes,
To gain the heights of Alma.
And when the heights we did command,
We fought the Russians hand to hand;
But the Russian force could not withstand
The British charge at Alma.

[6] Their guns and knapsacks they threw down,
And ran like hares before the hound,
While "Vive L'Empereur" did resound,
From the sons of France at Alma.
But though the battle we have got,
And gallantly our heroes fought,
Yet dearly was the victory bought,
For thousands died at Alma.

[7] Between the wounded and the slain,
The Russians lost eight thousand men;
And had three thousand prisoners ta'en
Upon the heights of Alma.
Two thousand British, I heard say,
Did fall upon that fatal day;
And fourteen hundred Frenchmen lay
In bloody graves at Alma.

[8] To Sebastopol the Russians fled,
They left their wounded and their dead;
The river that day ran crimson red,
With the blood that was spilled at Alma.
From orphans' eyes the tear-drops roll,
And none the widows can console.
While parents mourn, beyond control,
The sons they lost at Alma.

[9] And many a pretty maid does mourn,
Her lover who will ne'er return;
By cruel war he's from her torn,
And his body lies at Alma.
With France and England, hand in hand,
What force on earth can them withstand;
So sound the news throughout the land—
The victory of the Alma.

The above was a common street song, and always a "catch," not in Scotland alone, but all over Britain, for many years succeeding the great Crimean War. Many thousands of it must have been sold in broad sheet form.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Heights of Alma
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Sep 21 - 05:31 PM

Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

Heights of Alma (I), The [Laws J10]

DESCRIPTION: The British and French land outside Alma. They attack and rout the Russians (most versions give the primary credit to the British, and especially the Scots), forcing them back to Sevastopol. Both sides suffer heavy casualties
AUTHOR: James Maxwell?
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford); c.1854 (broadside, NLScotland RB.m.143(159))
KEYWORDS: war battle patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 14, 1854 - Anglo-French landing near the mouth of the Alma
Sept 20, 1854 - Battle of Alma. The allies win an expensive victory over the Russians
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(MW) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws J10, "The Heights of Alma"
Ford-VagabondSongsAndBalladsOfScotland, pp. 249-251, "The Heights of Alma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan1 158, "The Battle of Alma" (1 fragment)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H123, p. 90, "The Heights of Alma" (1 text with variants, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 90, "The Heights at Alma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 1000-1001, "The Heights of Alma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 67, "Battle of Alma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, pp. 148-149, "Battle of Alma" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 55, "The Battle of Alma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 74, "The Heights of Alma" (1 text)
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 73, "The Heights of Alma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean-FlyingCloud, pp. 40-41, "The Heights of Alma" (1 text)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 214-215, "The Heights of Alma" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 394, HGHTALMA*
Roud #830
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Heights of Alma" (on Abbott1)
Cyril O'Brien, "The Heights of Alma" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2336, "The Battle of Alma" ("You loyal Britons pray draw near"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 26(41)[faded to almost total illegibility], Firth c.14(47)[faded to almost total illegibility], "The Battle of Alma"; Harding B 19(88), 2806 b.9(245), "Bloody Alma"
Murray, Mu23-y1:116, "The Battle of Alma," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, RB.m.143(159), "The Battle of Alma," unknown, c.1854
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Victory Won at Richmond" (meter, lyrics)
cf. "The Waggoner" (meter, lyrics)
cf. "The Kilties in the Crimea" (subject)
cf. "Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose (I)" (subject: British boasting about the Crimea)
cf. "Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose (II)" (subject: Battle of Alma)
cf. "Here's to the Army and Navy" (subject)
cf. "The Battle of Alma" (subject)
NOTES [2876 words]: Bodleian Library site Ballads Catalogue has other broadsides about the battle:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(62), "We'll Hae Nane but Hielan' Bonnets Here!" ("Alma field of heroes, hail!"), unknown, n.d.
Bodleian, Harding B 26(43), "Battle of Alma" ("Oh boys have you heard of the battle, the allies have gained on the shore"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; Harding B 12(246), "Battle of Alma"
Bodleian, Harding B 26(42), "The Battle of Alma" ("Come all you true-bred Irishmen, and listen unto me"), unknown, n.d.
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi: "[This version] differs in words and tune from any published version we have seen. It may possibly have been altered by Jared MacLean [the singer] himself." This version does share two verses with Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 74; lacking Mackenzie's chorus it still has the same pattern and seems close enough to me for this to be considered Laws J10.
Greig/Duncan1 has the one verse augmented by "Hey, Menschikoff, are ye waukin' yet? Sebastapol bells, are ye ringing yet? Gin ye were waukin, I wad wait, An' meet ye on the banks o' Alma" and sung to the tune of "Johnny Cope." - BS
The Crimean War probably doesn't set a record for strange beginnings (there was, after all, the War of Jenkins's Ear), but it came close: It started with a conflict over who had keys to which rooms in churches in the Holy Land (Binkley, pp. 168-171). But this involved politics in the Ottoman and Russian Empires plus the various Catholic states, and that meant Napoleon III was involved, and the British were trying to reform the Ottoman Empire, and mash it all up, and you ended up with a war.
A singularly inefficient war. The Russians were fighting the Turks by 1853. Britain and France allied with the Turks in March 1854, and sent off their armies to the east. "An Anglo-French expeditionary force appeared at Varna in June to drive out the Russians, but the Russians had already gone. Without even seeing the enemy the expeditionary force lost a fourth of its numbers through sickness" (Binkley, p. 174).
Finally, in the fall of 1854, the allies managed to locate some real live Russians in the Crimea, and set out to attack them.
The English commander was Lord Raglan, who had fought against Napoleon forty years earlier (and had lost an arm; see Woodham-Smith, p. 131), but he was now 65 years old and perhaps lacking in initiative (Woodham-Smith, p. 156).
According to Hibbert, p. 2, he was so like the Duke of Wellington that they were sometimes thought to be father and son (they differed by about twenty years in age). After brief service as a very junior officer, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, as he was then known, joined Wellington's staff, and served on it for some forty years, until Wellington died.
His life was amazingly limited. Hibbert, pp. 4-5, reports these traits: "His private life... was happy and successful, He was devoted to his wife and to his four young children. He was not rich, but had enough to spend between three and four thousand a year... He loved hunting and shooting and good food and the company of good-looking women and the pleasures of society. And like so many members of that society he cared little for the changing world outside it. Science and mechanics, which were beginning already to change the whole life of Europe [and the weapons their armies used, and hence military tactics] meant nothing to him. Nor did painting, nor music; nor did books. In fact in the great mass of his private correspondence only once does he mention having read one.... Even politics interested him only when they impinged upon the Army. In the six years that he sat as a High Tory Member for Truro he never once spoke in the House. He nonetheless was made the first Lord Raglan in 1852 (Hibbert, p. 6).
The British didn't really have much choice about picking such inferior commander; all their officers were either ancient or inexperienced or both -- or had earned their experience in India, which made them socially inferior; see Farwell, p. 69. Plus the British still followed the rule of commission by purchase (Hibbert, p. 8), which was to foist upon then such fools as Lord Lucan and Lord Cardigan of Light Brigade infamy; purchasing of commissions was not eliminated until 1871 (Chandler/Beckett, p. 188). This lack of competent officers was to cost them dearly in the course of the war. Hibbert, p. 16, says that four officers were considered for command of the expeditionary force -- and that only Raglan was under seventy. Compared to the alternatives, he may actually have been a good choice.
Give Raglan this much credit, at least: It was he who pushed the British army to adopt rifle muskets rather than smoothbores (Hibbert, pp. 18-19). These would utterly change the nature of war, and Raglan probably didn't understand them -- but they were a big advantage to the side that had them, since they had a much greater range than smoothbores, and they could actually hit a target.
To add to Raglan's age and conservatism, and the general incompetence of the British staff system, was the fact that Raglan was sick. Heat and dysentery affected him no less than his men (Hibbert, p. 21) -- and he was older and permanently crippled.
At the beginning of the war, Raglan's failings didn't matter. His stubbornness was important to getting the British and French to actually take action (Hibbert, p. 21), which had the secondary benefit of getting them out of the disease pits of their first landing place near Varna (Hibbert, pp. 29-31). Sadly, that didn't really get the armies to do anything useful; British forces had not coordinated their plans with that of the French under Saint Arnaud. (Liaison between the two forces was terrible -- indeed, even within the armies, commanders were hardly willing to work together. Part of it was political, but most of it was sheer personal jealousy.) This was one of the reasons it took so many months to get the forces actually on their way to the Crimea. To add to the absurdity of it all, the time spent in Bulgaria was completely wasted; no one used the time to gather useful intelligence. The Allies would be going into the Crimea blind (Hibbert, p. 33).
No one had even managed to gather decent information on a landing site; in the end, Raglan and his staff cruised the shoreline north of Sebastopol and simply picked a likely-looking spot (Hibbert, pp. 37-38).
Even the landing was a botch, despite being unopposed; although a buoy had been set out to delimit the British and French landing areas, the buoy somehow moved in the night before the landing, so the French had the entire beach and the British had to take their landing craft and hunt for a new spot to go ashore (Hibbert, p. 40). The landing took place September 14, 1854. By the time the rains began that afternoon, men were already collapsing -- some of them dying -- on the beach due to the stress of trying to travel while sick (Hibbert, p. 41).
When the song says the British troops spent the first night on the "cold, cold ground," it is no less than the truth; their tents had been sent back aboard ship after the landing (Hibbert, p. 42, attributes this to the impossibility of the weary troops to carry them, though I wouldn't be surprised if the staff botched things up again).
The British were so disorganized that it took them four days to get moving; the French had been ready two days earlier. Even after all that waiting, most men were not supplied with water for their canteens -- worsening their problems with the day's heat (Hibbert, p. 45). They also did not have time to cook their rations.
After a cavalry mix-up, the Russians settled in to their position of "enormous strength" on the Alma River. "...the Russsians withdrew from the ridges of Bulganak, and the British army came up on them to advance to bivouac for the night in order of battle. When darkness came the men, most of them too exhausted even to eat, fell to the ground, permitted at last to sleep.... Beyond the river, on steep ridges with rise to a formidable height, an untouched Russian army lay encamped" (Hibbert, p. 51). The troops would also have to cross the Alma, but at this time of the year, the water was low and it was a relatively minor obstacle; there were many fords (Hibbert, p. 54).
It is estimated that the 38,000 Russians faced 65,000 Allies (30,000 French, 26,000 British, and 9,000 Turks fought at the Alma, although both sides were starting to suffer severely from disease, and the European allies didn't let the Turks do much). The allies also had an advantage in armaments: The British forces, as noted, had rifle muskets, while almost all of the Russians still had the old smoothbore muskets, which couldn't hit anything beyond a few dozen yards (Wawro, p. 10).
The battle of Alma took place on September 20, 1854. The Russians occupied a position they thought impregnable, but they left parts of it essentially unoccupied (Woodham-Smith, pp. 180-182; Hibbert, p. 54). The allies marched south toward them; with the French on the right (east), with the sea guarding their flank; the British were on the left, with their left flank in the air (not that the Russians were going to leave their strong position to attack it).
According to Hibbert, pp. 56-57, the French commander St. Arnaud, apparently proposed that the French attack on the seaward side while the British tried to outflank the Russians on the landward side. Lord Raglan did not bother arguing with the sick man, but he didn't exactly do as planned, either.
By good luck rather than coordination, the French and British managed a sort of an attack en echelon (Hibbert, pp. 58-59, blames it on the nearsightedness of a British division commander, who couldn't see what he was doing and drifted off-line). The Russians could have made the British pay by attacking their flank -- but they made no move. Instead, the British advance -- though it stalled for some time, forcing the soldiers to face artillery fire they could not answer (Hibbert, p. 61) -- progressively involved the Russian forces and at last brought extra force into play on the Russian flank, causing it to break. (I'm vastly oversimplifying here, but the see-saw battle that actually happened really requires a map to explain.) Raglan's oblique movement had cost heavy casualties, but had -- potentially -- won the war. (Only to have the victory dissolve in more failure of coordination.)
Casualties figures at Alma are uncertain, particularly since many men were dying of cholera all the while. Initial reports had 1755 Russians killed, 362 British, and 60 French (!). Of these, only the Russian figure is possible. Warner, p. 33, gives figures of 6000 Russians, 2000 British, and French negligible -- though he also quotes a contemporary officer's letter claiming 2000 British and 5000 French casualties (Warner, p. 39), while on p. 40 he lists 342 British soldiers killed while noting that conditions for the injured were so bad that most of them would die and on p. 44 quotes a contemporary as saying there were 1400 French losses including those from disease.
After this much time, no reliable figures will ever be known, but it is a reasonable guess that at least 5000 men died. In any case, battle casualties in the Crimea were a joke; men were dying of disease so fast that many formations just melted away. Disease casualties far outnumbered those caused by fighting.
The song is generally fairly accurate about details: There was a downpour on the night after the landing, the British troops were without tents (the French were better off), meaning that the men did sleep on the ground. They were hardly better off on the day before Alma: The day the men marched to the Alma was indeed very hot and dry (Woodham-Smith, p. 170). The dry ground above the Alma River was indeed very high and a potentially strong defensive position (I seem to recall reading that at some points it rose 300 feet above the river) -- though it was not fully fortified (Warner, p. 29). The song is wrong about one thing: the landing took place on September 14, not September 18 as found in several versions (the confusion probably came about because, while the army landed starting September 14, it just sat there for four days. The advance toward the Alma began September 18; Hibbert, pp. 44-45).
The comment, "Scottish lads in kilts and hose Were not the last, you may suppose" is nothing less than the truth; according to Palmer, p. 101, "To the Russians, Sir Colin Campbell's kilted Black Watch and Cameron Highlanders seemed an irresistable force, 'the savages without trousers,' as the mortally wounded General Karganov alled them with grudging admiration." According to Woodham-Smith, pp. 187-188, it was the Highlanders who won the battle, taking the redoubt that anchored the Russian line despite extremely heavy fire. It was the second time the British had taken the position (the Russians had weakened it by pulling out its artillery, according to Hibbert, p. 70; they had a very strong tradition of not allowing guns to fall into enemy hands), but they had been driven out the first time (due in part to mistaken orders and the almost-standard confusion of battle; Hibbert, p. 72). The Highlanders took it and held it.
The song also says "The shot it flew like wind and rain When we the battery strove to gain." Again, this may be based on an eyewitness report; while crossing the river, a sergeant said many men were "shot down with grape and cannister -- which came amongst us like hail -- while attempting to cross [the Alma]" (Hibbert, p. 66).
Versions of this song give chief credit to different regiments for the victory at Alma; Ford's and Henry's texts mentions the "Thirty-third and the Fusiliers," but chief credit is probably due (as even the Ford and Henry texts imply) to Sir Colin Campbell's Highland Brigade: 42nd Highlanders (Black Watch), 78th Highlanders (Seaforth, though this regiment was not given honours for Alma) and 93rd Highlanders (Sutherland).
The additional stanzas in some of the Sam Henry variants mention "Prince Metchnikoff"; this is General Prince Alexander Sergeievich Menshikov/Menschikov/Menschikoff (1789-1869; the variant spellings of course arise because his name is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, but no source I've checked spells it the way Henry does). He was commander of Russian forces in the Crimea until his recall for reasons of health during the Sebastopol siege. Menshikov proved an utter disaster to the Russians (Warner, p. 42, says that "Raglan was inept, Menshikov was more so"); before the war, he had been sent to the Turks as an ambassador. His orders gave him little leeway to avoid war, but he did nothing to use what leeway he had.
The Henry text says that Menshikov left his coach at Alma. This is not true, but there was a Russian review before the battle, and many fine gentlemen and ladies turned out. Many of them fled, leaving coaches and picnic baskets behind.
Jacques Letoy de Saint Arnaud (1796-1854), who helped put Napoleon III on the French throne and was rewarded with a marshal's baton, was the overall commander of Allied forces in the battle, but this wasn't much to his credit; Raglan's movement, which was expensive but which won the battle, was against his orders.
Saint Arnaud did not die in combat at Alma, as the Henry text implies; instead, he was sick (one source suggests heart disease and cholera, another stomach cancer) at the time of the engagement, and died nine days later.
His timing was abominable. Had the allies moved straight on Sebastopol after winning at Alma, they might have taken it by siege -- but Saint Arnaud and others delayed things (Woodham-Smith, p. 191), and then wasn't around to straighten things out; the invaders instead tried a flank march around an army that was too disorganized even to have a flank at this time (Woodham-Smith, p. 192). The delay would cause great misery, at Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, and all the lands around, where men died of cholera, bad food, and all the other ills that plagued the ill-supplied Crimean armies.
Sam Henry twice credits this song to James Maxwell (fl. 1870), a schoolteacher from near Dungiven, to whom he credits several other songs. I'm not particularly confident of this; the other two Maxwell songs ("Adieu to the Banks of the Roe" and "Dungiven Priory Church") are poor pieces, different in style and quality, with no such historical allusions. I suppose Maxwell could have been a One Hit Wonder, but I'd like better proof of authorship.
Whoever the author was, he appears to have had access to Raglan's remarks on the battle; Raglan spoke of "the hill opposite, over which the Russians fled, quite thick with dead and wounded... the work of the Highland Brigade."
For further information about the Crimean War and the Sebastopol campaign, see "The Famous Light Brigade."
We might also note that "Alma" gives strong evidence of being molded on some earlier piece, though I haven't managed to locate such an exemplar. Neither does Laws mention such a piece. But the fact that the Alma form was used for "The Victory Won at Richmond" (1860s) and "The Waggoner" (internally dated to some time prior to 1840) clearly implies the existence of a "proto-Alma" ballad. - RBW
Bibliography


• Binkley: Robert G. Binkley, Realism and Nationalism 1852-1871 (Harper, 1935; I used the 1963 reissue)
• Chandler/Beckett: David Chandler, general editor; Ian Beckett, associate editor, The Oxford History of the British Army, 1994 (I use the 1996 Oxford paperback edition)
• Farwell: Byron Farwell, Queen Victoria's Little Wars (1972; I used the 1985 Norton edition)
• Hibbert: Christopher Hibbert, The Destruction of Lord Raglan, (1961; I used the 1999 Wordsworth edition)
• Palmer: Alan Palmer, The Crimean War (originally published as The Banner of Battle), Dorset, 1987
• Warner: Philip Warner, The Crimean War: A Reappraisal (1972; I used the 2001 Wordsworth edition)
• Wawro: Geoffrey Wawro, The Austro-Prussian War: Austria's War with Prussia and Italy in 1866 (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
• Woodham-Smith: Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Reason Why (McGraw-Hill, 1954)

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Heights of Alma
From: Lighter
Date: 13 Sep 21 - 07:20 PM

This song was the direct inspiration for the American "The Battle of Shiloh."

(Not the better known "The Battle of Shiloh's Hill.")

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Heights of Alma
From: GerryM
Date: 14 Sep 21 - 02:49 AM

I sang this at the Mudcat Singaround today. I cobbled my version together from the one in the Digital Tradition (where it's under "Battle of Alma") and several elsewhere on the web and the recording by Liz & John Munro (but I didn't see the ones in this thread until just now). Each version I found had one or more bits that just seemed wrong.

For example, in the version upthread that Gordon Jackson attributes to Nic Jones, there's the line, "Oh when the heights we hove in view," which doesn't really make sense. So I sang it as "But when the heights they hove in view."

Also, in the last stanza of that version, it has, "Now France and England hand in hand/What ne'er a foe could them withstand." Now it's clear from both the song and the actual history of the battle that the Scots had a lot to do with the victory at Alma, and I don't think the Scots would take well to being subsumed into England. And the second line makes no sense to me – "What never a foe could them withstand"? So, I sang it as "Oh, France and Britain, hand in hand/Whate'er a foe could them withstand?" I'm not sure that "Whatever a foe could them withstand?" is such good English, but to me it seems better than the way I found it.

And I didn't care much for "The rivers there that they run red," so I sang "And the rivers there, they ran with red."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Heights of Alma
From: GUEST,Jon Dudley
Date: 14 Sep 21 - 05:43 AM

From the repertoire of The Copper Family comes this version. Interesting that it contains reference to the use of the Needle Gun...as Bob used to explain, the riflemen were not dashing about exhibiting their skills in petit point, but something rather more deadly.

THE BATTLE OF ALMA

A jolly young soldier a letter did write
To his own dearest jewel, his joy and hearts delight,
To tell her of the dangers that he had entered in
At the Battle of Alma where thousands were slain.

Our soldiers and sailors were all prepared for war
To fight those lofty Russians where thousands must fall,
They were commanded by Lord Raglan that man of courage bold,
They fought them sword in hand, my boys, and forced them to yield.

It was the bravest battle that did this world surprise
To see our brave soldiers to stare them in the face,
They marched up to their guns, my boys, and soon they let them know,
They showed to them their needle work and forced them to yield.

The drums they did beat and the trumpets did sound
While thousands of soldiers lay dead on the ground.
There were rifle balls and musket came a-screeching by their ears
And the bomb shells a-bursting and loud cannon roar.

And now let us hope that these wars are all o’er,
While thousands of soldiers lie bleeding in gore.
May the Lord have mercy on them and save their poor souls
May the sweet heavens protect them and God be their guide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcV1N4i4PEk&t=6399s

Subject: DT Correction: The Heights of Alma
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Sep 22 - 05:18 PM

The first version in the Digital Tradition is from Sam Henry's Songs of the People, page 90. It identifies the songwriter as James Maxwell, a schoolmaster.

THE HEIGHTS OF ALMA (DT Lyrics) Ye loyal Britons, pray give ear Unto the news I bring you here While joy each Briton's heart doth cheer For the vict'ry gained at Alma 'Twas on September the eighteenth day In spite of dashing salt sea spray, We landed safe in the Crimea Upon our route for Alma. All night we lay on the cold ground, Neither tent or shelter to be found, And with the rain were nearly drowned To cheer us for the Alma. Next morn a burning sun did rise Above the darkling eastern skies, Our gallant chief, Lord Raglan, cries, "Prepare to march for Alma." But when the Alma came in view, The stoutest heart it would subdue To see that Russian motley crew Upon the heights of Alma. They were so strongly fortified With batteries on the mountain side, Our general viewed the forts and cried, "There'll be hot work at Alma." The shot and shell it fell like rain While we the batteries strove to gain, And many's hero then was slain Upon the heights of Alma. The Thirty-thirds and Fusiliers, They stormed the heights with rousing cheers, While "Faugh-s-ballagh [1]" rent our wars From Hibernia's sons at Alma. The Highland lads wi' kilt and hose, They were not last, you may suppose, They boldly faced the Russian foes And gained the heights of Alma, And when the heights we did command, We fought the Russians hand to hand, But the Russian bear he could not stand Our bayonet charge at Alma. Their guns and knapsacks they threw down, They ran like hares before the hound, While "Vive l'Empereur" did resound From the sons of France at Alma, But though the battle we have got And gallantly our heroes fought, Yet dearly was the victory bought, For thousands died at Alma. To Sebastopol our troops have gone, And you shall hear it before long, The fort will fall, were it twice as strong We'll have revenge at Alma. From orphans' eyes the tears do roll, And never a widow can control Or staunch the streams of blood that stole From thousands slain at Alma. Many a purty girl may mourn For her lover that will ne'er return, By cruel war he's from her torn, His body lies at Alma. Then Britain's sons may well remember Every twentieth of September When we made the Russian bear surrender, And gained the heights of Alma.

THE HEIGHTS OF ALMA (Sam Henry-differences in bold) Ye loyal Britons, pray give ear Unto the news I bring you here While joy each Briton's heart doth cheer For the vict'ry gained at Alma 'Twas on September the eighteenth day In spite of dashing salt sea spray, We landed safe in the Crimea Upon our route for Alma. All night we lay on the cold ground, Neither tent or shelter to be found, And with the rain were nearly drowned To cheer us for the Alma. Next morn a burning sun did rise Above the darkling eastern skies, Our gallant chief Lord Raglan cries, "Prepare to march for Alma." But when the Alma came in view, The stoutest heart it would subdue To see that Russian motley crew Upon the heights of Alma. They were so strongly fortified With batteries on the mountain side, Our general viewed the forts and cried, "There'll be hot work at Alma." The shot and shell it fell like rain While we the batteries strove to gain, And many a hero then was slain Upon the heights of Alma. The Thirty-thirds and Fusiliers, They stormed the heights with rousing cheers, While "Faugh-a-ballagh [1]" rent our ears From Hibernia's sons at Alma. The Highland lads wi' kilt and hose, They were not last, you may suppose, They boldly faced the Russian foes And gained the heights of Alma, And when the heights we did command, We fought the Russians hand to hand, But the Russian bear he could not stand Our bayonet charge at Alma. Their guns and knapsacks they threw down, They ran like hares before the hound, While "Vive l'Empereur" did resound From the sons of France at Alma, But though the battle we have got And gallantly our heroes fought, Yet dearly was the victory bought, For thousands died at Alma. To Sebastopol our troops have gone, And you shall hear it before long, The fort will fall, were it twice as strong We'll have revenge at Alma. From orphans' eyes the tears do roll, And never a widow can control Or staunch the streams of blood that stole From thousands slain at Alma. Many a purty girl may mourn For her lover that will ne'er return, By cruel war he's from her torn, His body lies at Alma. Then Britain's sons may well remember Every twentieth of September When we made the Russian bear surrender, And gained the heights of Alma.

[1] Faugh-a-ballagh! = Clear the way! The unofficial motto of the Royal Irish Fusileers, who were nicknamed the "Old Fogs" as a consequence. RG

From Songs of the People, Henry
DT #394
Laws J10
@war @English @Crimea @battle
filename[ HGHTALMA
TUNE FILE: HGHTALMA
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Subject: DT Correction: Battle of Alma
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Sep 22 - 02:38 PM

And the second version in the Digital Tradition is from Creighton, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia #67 :

BATTLE OF ALMA (HEIGHTS OF ALMA 2)(DT Lyrics) On September last the eighteenth day We landed safe at big Crimea, In spite of all the splashing spray To cheer our hearts for Alma. cho: Then Britain's sons may long remember The glorious twentieth of September, We caused the Russians to surrender Up on the heights of Alma. That night we lay on the cold ground, No tent nor sbelter to be found, And with the rain was almost drowned Upon the heights of Alma. Next morning a scorching sun did rise Beneath the eastern cloudy skies, Our noble chief Lord Raglan cries, "Prepare to march for Alma." Oh, when the heights we hove in view The stoutest heart it could subdue To see tue Russian warlike crew Upon the heights of Alma. Their city was well fortified With batteries on every side, Our noble chief Lord Raglan cried, "We'll get hot work at Alma." Their shot it flew like winter rain When we their batteries strove to gain, Fifteen hundred Frenchmen lie slain In the bloody gore at Alma. Our Scottish lads with sword in hose Were not the last you may suppose, But daring faced their daring foes And gained the heights of Alma. To Sebastopol the Russians fled, They left their wounded and the dead, The rivers there that they run red From the blood was spilled at Alma. There was fifteen hundred Frenchman I heard say Had fell upon that fatal day, And eighteen hundred Russians lay In the bloody gore at Alma. Now France and England hand in hand, What ne'er a foe could them withstand! So let it run throughout the land, The victory won at Alma.

BATTLE OF ALMA (HEIGHTS OF ALMA 2)(Creighton-corrections in bold) On September last the eighteenth day We landed safe at big Crimea, In spite of all the splashing spray To cheer our hearts for Alma. CHORUS: Then Britain's sons may long remember The glorious twentieth of September, We caused the Russians to surrender Up on the heights of Alma. That night we lay on the cold ground, No tent nor shelter to be found, And with the rain was almost drowned Upon the heights of Alma. Next morning a scorching sun did rise Beneath the eastern cloudy skies, Our noble chief Lord Raglan cries, "Prepare to march for Alma." Oh, when the heights we hove in view The stoutest heart it could subdue To see the Russian warlike crew Upon the heights of Alma. Their city was well fortified With batteries on every side, Our noble chief Lord Raglan cried, "We'll get hot work at Alma." Their shot it flew like winter rain When we their batteries strove to gain, Fifteen hundred Frenchmen lie slain In the bloody gore at Alma. Our Scottish lads with sword in hose Were not the last you may suppose, But daring faced their daring foes And gained the heights of Alma. To Sebastopol the Russians fled, They left their wounded and the dead, The rivers there that they run red From the blood was spilled at Alma. There was fifteen hundred Frenchman I heard say Had fell upon that fatal day, And eighteen hundred Russians lay In the bloody gore at Alma. Now France and England hand in hand, What ne'er a foe could them withstand? So let it run throughout the land, The victory won at Alma.

From Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, Creighton
@war @battle @Army @Crimea
filename[ HGHTALM2
TUNE FILE: HGHTALM2
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