SOLDIER'S JOY | ROCK THE CRADLE, JULIE

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Description

Pvt. John Dinkins, Co.C, 18th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, described the march of McLaw's Division of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia - which included Kershaw's South Carolina Brigade - toward Sharpsburg MD, and the Battle of Antietam, in September of 1862. Dinkins recalled:

"The men moved along at a lively gait. As night came on, we sang all kinds of plantation songs, 'Rock the Cradle, Julie', 'Sallie, Get Your Hoecake Done', 'I'm Gwying Down the Newburg Road', and so on. The men ... moved along the road. The woods rang with their melodies."** The melody, the familiar Soldier's Joy, has been traced back to traditional Scottish fiddle tunes of the 18th Century.

"Soldier's Joy" is a fiddle tune, classified as a reel or country dance. According to documentation at the United States Library of Congress, it is "one of the oldest and most widely distributed tunes" and is rated in the top ten most-played old time fiddle tunes.The tune dates as early as the 1760s. In spite of its upbeat tempo and catchy melody, the term "soldier's joy" has a much darker meaning than is portrayed by the tune. This term eventually came to refer to the combination of whiskey, beer, and morphine used by American Civil War soldiers to alleviate pain.

It is popular in the American fiddle canon, in which it is touted as "an American classic", but traces its origin to Scottish fiddling traditions. It has been played in Scotland for over 200 years, and Robert Burns used it for the first song of his cantata 'The Jolly Beggars'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier%27s_Joy_(fiddle_tune)

** James Dinkins, By An Old Johnnie: Personal Recollections and Experiences in the Confederate Army (Morningside Bookshop, 1975)