— Ch. 1 · Premiere In Jackson —
The Bonnie Blue Flag.
~3 min read · Ch. 1 of 5
Harry McCarthy stood before a crowd in Jackson, Mississippi during the spring of 1861. He performed his new song for the first time at that concert. The melody came from an older tune called "The Irish Jaunting Car". This pairing created a marching rhythm that suited the political mood of the moment. McCarthy later played the piece again in September 1861. That performance took place at the New Orleans Academy of Music. It was dedicated to the First Texas Volunteer Infantry regiment. They were mustering there to celebrate their formation.
Butler And Blackmar
Major General Benjamin Butler captured New Orleans and targeted the music publisher A.E. Blackmar. He arrested Blackmar and fined him five hundred dollars. Butler ordered all copies of the sheet music destroyed immediately. He also issued a strict order regarding public singing. Anyone caught whistling or singing "The Bonnie Blue Flag" would face a twenty-five dollar fine. This amount equated to roughly five hundred dollars in modern value. Eleven other editions of the song appeared with different lyrics after this crackdown. Annie Chambers Ketchum published a version titled "The Gathering Song" under her own name. She risked her liberty to create these new verses for Confederate widows.