“When Johnny Comes Marching Home” was published on September 26, 1863, by Henry Tolman & Co., of Boston, MA. The melody and lyrics were attributed to “Louis Lambert”, a pseudonym for Irish-American military band leader Patrick Gilmore. It is unknown why Gilmore chose not to acknowledge his composition.
Interestingly, in an 1883 article in the “Musical Herald,” Gilmore acknowledged that the music was not original. Early in the “rebellion” he described overhearing a “waif” humming the tune. He wrote it down, dressed it up, added lyrics reflecting the emotions of the times, and gave the song its name.
“Johnny” quickly became very popular, expressing as it did, much of America’s longing for the war to end, and the homecoming of their loved ones. Like many other songs that became popular with the public, the catchy melody of “Johnny” would soon be used in a mocking parody - “For Bales”, published in 1864, by A. E. Blackmar of New Orleans.
The lyrics chronicle the failed Union “Red River Campaign”, between March and May of 1864. The main Federal objectives were to destroy the Confederate Army, and confiscate all available cotton bales. The Red River Valley of Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas and eastern Texas, was the great cotton production center of the Confederacy. The bumper crop of 1863, had produced tens of thousands of cotton bales that were sitting on the Red River docks around Shreveport, then the acting capital of Louisiana, awaiting transport up River to Texas.
The lack of Southern cotton had caused massive unemployment and economic hardship. Desperate New England textile mills were operating under 20% capacity. Given the situation, who better to lead the campaign than General Nathaniel Banks, a political-appointee general from Massachusetts ? In expectation of quick success, Banks was given 36,000 men and Admiral David Porter’s Mississippi Squadron, which comprised nearly 100 vessels. Of course, the confidently optimistic politician in Banks could not resist the chance to refurbish his reputation (which had suffered greatly at the hands of Stonewall Jackson, in Virginia two years earlier) by including the steamboat “Black Hawk”, crammed with news reporters, cotton speculators, and such creature comforts as champagne and ice.
Though greatly outnumbered (as usual), having only 18,000 troops and a handful of river vessels guarding Shreveport, the Confederates fortunately were commanded by Generals Kirby Smith and Richard Taylor. General Taylor had experience with General Banks, having fought with distinction against him in Stonewall Jackson’s legendary 1862 Shenandoah Campaign.
After heavy fighting the Federal forces were defeated on land and on the river, and were driven back to the Mississippi River. None of the Federal objectives being accomplished, General Bank’s military service came to an end, the cotton speculators returned to Union held New Orleans, burying their disappointment in gallon bowls of liquor.
“…Johnny, fill up the bowl !”