Root, Hog, or Die! (IV)

DESCRIPTION: "I'll tell you all a story that happened long ago, When the English came to America... The Yankees boys made 'em sing 'Root hog or die.'" The singer describes various English defeats: the Tea Party, Bunker Hill, Yorktown, Baltimore, New Orleans
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (a text reported by Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety to be this was found in the 1859 Dime Song Book)
KEYWORDS: battle patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec. 16, 1773 - Boston Tea Party. Americans protest the British tax on tea by dumping a shipload into Boston Harbor
June 17, 1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill (fought on Breed's Hill, and won by the British, though at heavy cost)
Oct 19, 1781 - Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown (not really as a result of being defeated; his supply line had been cut by the French navy)
Aug 24, 1814 - A British force under Robert Ross captures Washington, D.C. after brushing aside the incompetent defenders. (Madison's administration had already fled). Two days later the British leave for Baltimore.
Sept 13, 1814 - Battle of Fort McHenry, which saves Baltimore from the British attack.
Jan 8, 1815 - Battle of New Orleans. Although a peace had already been signed, word had not yet reached Louisiana, which British General Pakenham sought to invade. Andrew Jackson's backwoodsmen easily repulse Pakenham.
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 334, "Root Hog or Die" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2025, p. 136, "Root Hog or Die" (5 references)
Dime-Song-Book #1/72, p. 38, "Root Hog or Die" (1 text)
Roud #4734
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Root, Hog, or Die" [Laws B21] and references there
File: Beld334

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