Why come ye hither redcoats

The words are sometimes attributed, along with the arrangement of the music, to John Williams Allison born , an American singer, composer, lyricist, and collector of folk songs, whose collection of correspondence, radio scripts, clippings, scrapbooks, brochures, published music, and unpublished sound recordings is housed at the New York Public Library. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account.

You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Primary Menu Skip to content. Home About. The beginning of the song is thus: Why come ye hither, Redcoats, your mind what madness fills? Oh, hear ye not the singing of the bugle wild and free? The newborn nation was to have a baptism of fire. The invasion of General Burgoyne from Canada was a serious threat to Vermont, although its aim was to crush the general rebellion in America.

Fort Ticonderoga had fallen on the 7th of July , leaving the frontier vulnerable[1]. Receiving reinforcements from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the Vermonters prepared to defend against the invaders, who came down to Bennington in force to capture the important supply depot there.

The force consisted mainly of Hessian mercenaries, with a few hundred Canadian and loyalist militia and Indians as well [2]. The defense of Bennington was undertaken by the continental militia as well as basically every able bodied male resident of the town.

The young republic was able to survive its first major test.