DPIROT@gatech.uucp (04/26/89)
From: UALTAVM.gatech.edu!DPIROT@gatech.uucp
Can someone tell me the significance of the motto 'Gary Owen', associated
with the US Cavalry?
Is it the name of a person? There is, I believe, also a song with
that name. Can someone give me the lyrics?
Don Pirot, | BITNET: DPIROT@UALTAVM
University Computing Systems, | UUCP: alberta!DPIROT@ualtavm.bitnet
University of Alberta, | ARPA: DPIROT%UALTAVM.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. | What luck for rulers that men do not think.
| Adolph Hitler (1889-1945)dickmc@BRL.MIL (04/27/89)
:From article <5935@cbnews.ATT.COM>, by UALTAVM.gatech.edu!DPIROT@gatech.uucp: : : : From: UALTAVM.gatech.edu!DPIROT@gatech.uucp : : Can someone tell me the significance of the motto 'Gary Owen', associated : with the US Cavalry? : Is it the name of a person? There is, I believe, also a song with : that name. Can someone give me the lyrics? : Don Pirot, | BITNET: DPIROT@UALTAVM : University Computing Systems, | UUCP: alberta!DPIROT@ualtavm.bitnet : University of Alberta, | ARPA: DPIROT%UALTAVM.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu : Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. | What luck for rulers that men do not think. : | Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) That was the regiment song for the U.S. 7th Cavalry commanded by Col. George Custer. The 7th Cav came out short at the Battle at the Little Big Horn in June 1876. The song was based on an old Irish drinking song from the Dublin area.
prahrens@pttesac.UUCP (Peter Ahrens) (04/29/89)
From: prahrens@pttesac.UUCP (Peter Ahrens) In article <5935@cbnews.ATT.COM> UALTAVM.gatech.edu!DPIROT@gatech.uucp writes: > >From: UALTAVM.gatech.edu!DPIROT@gatech.uucp > >Can someone tell me the significance of the motto 'Gary Owen', associated >with the US Cavalry? "Garry Owen" is the name of an Irish tune introduced to George Armstrong Custer by Myles Keogh, a fellow officer of the 7th. Custer loved it and adopted it as the regimental tune. Keogh was an extremely interesting figure in the 7th Cavalry, having previously served in Europe in the Papal Guard; his horse Commanche is said to have been the only living thing remaining on the Little Big Horn Battlefield by the time Terry's scouts arrived there. There is now a small town in Montana named Garryowen, just south of Hardin, if I recall, on the Crow Reservation which surrounds the Custer Battlefield Nat'l Monument. -Peter Ahrens
major@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Mike Schmitt) (05/05/89)
From: ssc-vax!shuksan!major@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Mike Schmitt) Peter Ahrens writes: > "Garry Owen" is the name of an Irish tune introduced to George Armstrong > Custer by Myles Keogh, a fellow officer of the 7th. Custer loved it > and adopted it as the regimental tune. Keogh was an extremely interesting > figure in the 7th Cavalry, having previously served in Europe in the > Papal Guard; his horse Commanche is said to have been the only living > thing remaining on the Little Big Horn Battlefield by the time Terry's > scouts arrived there. There is now a small town in Montana named > Garryowen, just south of Hardin, if I recall, on the Crow Reservation > which surrounds the Custer Battlefield Nat'l Monument. Excerpts from "From Garry Owen in Glory" (Army Magazine, Feb 89): "Garry Owen" orginated in the 1770s as a drinking song in a suburb of Limerick, Ireland, called Owen's Garden. The song became a quick march and was adopted by the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. The song also saw service with the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1811. The 28th Gloucestershire Foot played "Garry Owen" in June 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. Later, the British War Office formally assigned the march to the 18th Royal Irish. In America, an Irish unit called the 8th Company, 1st Regiment of Foot, Continental Line formed up in New York in 1775 and played "Garry Owen" during their march to Quebec. By 1851, the 1st New York had become the 69th New York Infantry Regiment ("Irish Brigade"). In 1861 they played the song while marching through Washington into Virginia. About this time, Myles Keogh, a veteran of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, immigrated to America. Keogh came from the Limerick area where his father had also served with the 5th Lancers. In 1862, Keogh joined the Union Army and after the Civil War, he and other Irish veterans joined the newly formed 7th Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas - where he introduced "Garry Owen" to Custer. Custer adopted it as the regiment's battle song. The original version went: Let Bacchus' sons be not dismayed. But join with me each jovial blade; Come, booze and sing, and lend your aid To help me with the chorus: Instead of spa we'll drink brown ale, And pay the reckoning on the nail, No man for debt shall go to jail, From Garry Own in glory. We are the boys that take delight in Smashing the Limerick lamps when lighting, Through the streets like sporters fighting And tearing all before us. We'll break windows, we'll break doors, The watch knock down by threes and fours, Then let the doctors work their cures, And tinker up our bruises. We'll beat the bailiffs out of fun, We'll make the mayor and sheriffs run; We are the boys no man dares dun, If he regards a whole skin. Our hearts so stout have go us fame, For soon 'tis known from whence we came; Where'er we go they dread the name Of Garry Owen in Glory. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 1905, when the 7th Cavalry sailed off the the Philippines, the Chief Musician compsed new stanzas and chorus: We are the pride of the Army, And a regiment of great renown, Our name's on the pages of history. From sixty-six on down. If you think we stop of falter While into the fray we're goin' Just watch the steps with our heads erect, While our band plays "Garry Owen." In the Fighting Seventh's the place for me, It's the cream of all the cavalry; No other regiment ever can claim Its pride, honor, glory and undying fame. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- major mike "Garry Owen, Sir!"