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]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

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]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

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]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

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]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

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]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

Gburg ruined that tune for me.

[RJSamp]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

"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]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

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]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

disregard...

[2MDF&D]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

[ 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

[Montford981]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

I realize that this is an old thread but I may be able to add a little light.

My main area of study is early Ohio and I suspect that this tune might be named for the four hour battle which took place on the headwaters of the Wabash River near the Indiana-Ohio border in 1791.

On November 4th of that year Governor-General St. Clair and approximately 1,000 US soldiers were soundly defeated by an army of Indians, chiefly Miami, Shawnee, Wyandot, Winnebago and Delaware. Approximately 650 US soldiers were killed and only 28 were unwounded at the end of the fight. A series of bayonet charges were key to St Clair being able to break contact and withdraw with the remains of his command.

The battle was a key impetus in the creation of the American Legion which was commanded by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Three years later Wayne exacted revenge for the Wabash at Fallen Timbers.

As far as I know the battle was never officially named although it can be found both as "Battle of the Wabash" and "St Clair's Defeat" in searches. I have never found any direct source linking this battle to the drum march but this fight would definately qualify as "Hell on the Wabash".

There was a song made of this battle, "St Clair's Defeat", which was later used with different lyrics and was known as "The Battle of Pea Ridge".

-981

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

When looking for a Wabash connection for this tune, it's important to remember that it first appeared in printed form under the Hell on the Wabash title in George Bruce's Drummers' and Fifers' Guide in 1861. Co-author Dan Emmett used or seemingly invented his own titles for many of the tunes in this book. For example, "Governor's Island Quickstep" would have been called "Miss Brown's Reel" by most folks back then. Instead of using "The Frost is All Over" for another tune, he named it after Owl Creek, which is somewhere near Emmett's hometown of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Emmett may have used the Wabash title for a similar reason.

A fifer in the 148th Pennsylvania noted that during the war his drum corps played a tune called "Hell on Oil Creek."

In Early Banjo Tunes and American Syncopation, Hans Nathan refers to an Emmett fiddle manuscript and states that "Hell on the Wabash" is a variant of "The Night We Made the Match." Might be worth looking into...

[steel-n-shot]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

I first heard it in the Blue and the Gray when Grants troops were marching into Vicksburg and have heard it many times sence but didnt know what it was kalled I recently heard it at an F&I event and asked what it was called. I did some diging around but all I could fid out that it was belived to have came about after the battle of Tippicanoe and that there was no lyrics. But your right it does grow on you.

[Montford981]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

I apologize for the thread necromancy:

It may (or may not) refer to the largest defeat dealt to the US Army by the Indians; the Battle of the Wabash. (November 4th, 1791). The location was along the banks of the Wabash River at present day Fort Recovery, Ohio.

General St Clair, with approximately 1,000 regulars and militia, including a medical train and an artillery battery. The Indians were Miamis, Shawnees, Wyandots and some others led by Little Turtle, Black Hoof and Blue Jacket.

On November 3rd General St Clair failed to have his forces prepare defensec when they bivouaced for the night. At dawn the Indians attacked.

Fewer than 50 soldiers of the US force emerged unwounded. Over 600 were killed, many of these when the wounded were abandoned. After three hours of fighting the US Army broke contact successfully via a bayonet charge. All the guns and the medical train were lost. St Clair and his remaining forces retreated all the way to Cincinnatiwhere the expedition began.

As far as I can determine this battle was never officially designated with a name by the Army, nor does it appear in the official histories of the two regular Infantry regiments (present day 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments) which participated in the campaign, although the 3rd was not present at the battle.

The crest of Battery D, 5th US Artillery does commemorate it: the crest bears five arrows representing the 5 campiagns in which it participated against the Indians, and one of those arrows is broken. That broken arrow is for this battle where nearly all its gunners fell manning their cannon.

This disaster, following on the previous defeats of Colonel Crawford and General Hamar, resulted in the formation of the force commanded by 'Mad' Anthony Wayne (The Legion of the United States), which spent many months in training before conducting his famous and successful campiagn in 1794.

Nice post about the campaign, but please sign your full name to your posts as this is a cardinal rule of the forum. - Silas Tackitt, one of the mods

[1812FieldMusik]

Re: Hell on the Wabash

I'm a fifer in the Fife and Drum corps at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland (of War of 1812 fame). We've been doing War of 1812 field music since 2004, and in my experience I have never seen "Hell on the Wabash" in any original manuals aside from B&E - and we have quite the collection of sources from the Revolutionary and early Republican periods.* Not only are there no tunes named "Hell on the Wabash" but I have yet to find any fife music that even remotely matches the tune under a different title. My guess is that Bruce and Emmett took the old fiddle tune and adapted it into Fife and Drum - like Will said. Even listening to the song, it sounds like it should be played on a fiddle! If anyone has any information on the matter, I'm all ears.
- Just my two cents.
(* Cushing & Appleton, Lovering, Ashworth's, Kusel's, Camp DuPont, Mass. Martial music, Rumrille & Holton, compleat instructions for the fife, Hazeltine, Hart's, Howe's (both books) & Samuel Potter's art of beating the drum - to name a few)