Hell on the Wabash

[KentuckyReb]

Had a couple of questions regarding this tune. I first heard it (please don't hit me! :confused_ ) when I saw 'Gettysburg', and that daggone song has stuck to me like a burr since then. I don't know why but it's just a tune that really appeals to me. What is it about that tune? Most everybody else I know who likes it seems to feel the same way about it. Perhaps it's the 'business-like' nature of it. There's no ambivalence to it--just hearing a few bars of it gives the clear impression that there's a scrap comin', and that speedily. I never knew the name of it until I was at an event last year and asked one of the musicians there. He told me that it was actually more of a RevWar/1812 tune than from our period, but that he really liked it too. I was just wondering if anyone on here knows the origin of the tune? 'Hell on the Wabash'...it sounds as if it refers to some specific violent event. Perhaps Tippecanoe, or some other engagement from the W.H. Harrison/Tecumseh period of the Northwest Territory's history? When I learned that 'Wabash' is part of the name, it led me to wonder if perhap it DOES refer to some event in Northwestern history and for that reason was popular with some Hoosier units because many of the boys from Northern/Central Indiana were familiar with the tune from their grandfathers, some of whom were probably some of the original Hunting Shirts, and perhaps that's why the tune was played as the Black Hat Brigade deployed at the beginning of the battle. Is anyone familiar with reference being made to that particular tune being popular with with the Iron/Black Hat Brigade? Just speckerlatin' a little there... And does anyone know if there were originally words to the tune, or has it always just been a fife & drum instrumental? I've looked all over the 'Net and haven't found any lyrics. Thanks to anybody who can share their greater knowledge of the subject than mine.

[TennViv]

Just a thought . . .

Could it be referring to George Rogers Clark's defeat of the British
at Fort Sackville on Feb. 25, 1779? Fort Sackville is located at
Vincennes Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash river.

[KentuckyReb]

That occurred to me right after I posted. Sitting here smacking myself on the forehead with a big thumb-and-forefinger 'L' at the moment. Jeeze...it's not like my Grandma's lived in Vincennes for my entire life or anything. That's what I get for posting when I haven't had my coffee yet. :tounge_sm

[FederalDrummerBoy]

Ok first off, it wasn't played as the Iron Brigade marched into the fight at Gettysburg. The tune that was actually played was The Cambells are Coming. Hell on the Wabash came into the picture when David Franco(music Director for Gettysburg) heard Camp Chase and the Second Maryland playing it during takes. Hollywood for ya
There are also several different ideas behind the naming of the tune Hell on the Wabash. One was that It was named after WHHarrison's campaign against the Indians in 1811. Others say it came from George Rogers Clark's campaign in 1777 during the rev war.

_________________
Alex Kuhn
CCFD

[KentuckyReb]

Ah. Thank you. See, that was something I was kinda wondering about, whether there was a reason that particular tune was playing or if somebody just thought it would fit well with the shot. Jeeze...I'm sitting here whistling it between my teeth while I type! I need help...

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Gburg ruined that tune for me.

[RJSamp]

"that's why the tune was played as the Black Hat Brigade deployed at the beginning of the battle. Is anyone familiar with reference being made to that particular tune being popular with with the Iron/Black Hat Brigade? Just speckerlatin' a little there... "

Have done a lot of reading and reenacting on the Iron Brigade from the old Northwest (not Joe Sheby's crew nor the New York Brigade that ended up under Cutler)......

Their Fife and Drum's played The Campbell's are Coming as they marched toward Seminary Ridge and McPherson's Ridge....Wed. July 1, 1863...they were marching across the fields that eventually were the site of Pickett's charge.

The Brigade Band played the Red White and Blue( Columbia the Gem of the Ocean) from near the CODORI farm house/Emmitsburg Road. The staff had already dropped a few fence rails to allow the Iron Brigade and Cutler's Brigade to cut cross fields towards, eventually, Herbst Woods.

Lot's of References to Girl I left Behind Me.....Whoopen de Dooden Doo (on the Prairie)....Morgenrot (auf Deutsche).....but none, so far, for Hell on the Wabash. They had the fifers to play it....Ludolph Longhenry of the 7th WVI comes to mind immediately...and maybe some of the 19th IN even knew where the Wabash was......

RJ Samp

[KentuckyReb]

I should've written that initial post differently. What I meant was "...why the movie showed that tune being played as the Black Hat Brigade..." rather than the way I worded it. I was wondering, in other words, if there was a reason the music coordinator for the movie placed it at that particular part of the movie. Now, seeing that it wasn't playing at that point historically, I can see there probably wasn't any significance. I wish they'd played 'The Campbells Are Coming'. Thanks for the replies. Still got a jones for HOTW, though. Is there a good fife & drum version of it available?

[KentuckyReb]

disregard...

[2MDF&D]

[ Still got a jones for HOTW, though. Is there a good fife & drum version of it available?[/QUOTE]

Sure. HOTW is on The Second Maryland Fifes and Drums "It's Those Marylanders Again!' CD, and The Campbells Are Coming is on the 2nd MD's "Band of Bro's" CD and is linked up with the tune Pop Goes The Weasel.
I think Camp Chase has versions of them as well.
Respectfully,
Rob McFarland
Second Maryland Fifes and Drums