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BATTLE SONG OF THE GREAT KANAWHA Ye daughters and sons of Virginia, incline Your ears to a story of woe. I sing of a time when your fathers and mine Fought for us on the Ohio. In seventeen hundred and seventy-four, The month of October we know, An army of Indians two thousand or more Encamped on the Ohio. The Shawnees, Wyandottes, and Delawares, too, As well as the tribes of Mingo, Invaded our lands and our citizens slew On the south of the Ohio. They marched through the untrodden wilds of the west O'er mountains and rivers also, And pitched at Point Pleasant their bodies to rest On the banks of the Ohio. The army of Indians in battle array Under Cornstalk and Elnipsicow Was met by the forces of Lewis that day On the banks of the Ohio. They brought on the battle at breaking of day. Like heroes they slaughtered the foe, 'Til two hundred Indians or more, they say, Were slain on the Ohio. The army of Indians did mourn, and her daughter did weep For Saul and his host on Gilbow. We'll mourn Colonel Fields and the heroes who sleep On the banks of the Ohio. The Battle Song of the Great Kanawha" is one of the oldest documented Virginia ballads. As the second verse states, it describes military events in October of 1774. John Murray, Governor of Virginia and fourth Earl of Dunmore (with part of his troops under the command of Colonel Andrew Lewis, cousin of Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame) arrived at Point Pleasant to suppress an Indian uprising led by Cornstalk in the far western part of Virginia (what is now West Virginia.) The battle ensued where the Kanawah and Ohio Rivers join, with Lewis facing Cornstalk. Lewis' Virginians won the day, while Dunmore was 60 miles away at the mouth of the Hocking river. As far as can be ascertained, "The Battle Song of the Great Kanawha" is no longer in oral tradition in Virginia. Two other songs about the battle have also come down through history, but they tell less of a story. One of those, however, remains part of the family musical tradition of the well-known Kentucky folksinger Jean Ritchie. @Indians @battle filename[ BATKANAW SOF Feb07  8note Sheet |
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