Du Dah Mormon Song, The

DESCRIPTION: Clearly to the tune of "Camptown Races": "Seven hundred wagons are on the way, Du dah! Their cattle are many, so they say, Du dah! Du dah day!" Uncle Same is sending a "Missouri ass" to govern Utah. The Mormons will defeat the invader Harney
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1873 (Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints, according to Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest)
KEYWORDS: derivative war | Mormon
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1857 - Mounting of the Mormon Expedition/Mormon War/Utah War
1880-1889 - Life of William S. Harney, who was the original commander of the Mormon Expedition but was later replaced by Albert Sidney Johnston
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah,#236, "The Du Dah Mormon Song" (1 text)
Cheney-MormonSongs, pp. 84-86, "Doo Dah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-FolkloreOfTheGreatWest, pp. 261-262, "(There's seven hundred wagons on the way)" (1 text, tune referenced)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 230-231, "The Mormon Du Dah Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10838
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Camptown Races" (tune) and references there
cf. "Du Dah Day" (another Mormon song with this tune)
NOTES [84 words]: The reference to General Harney as a "squaw-killer" is a reference to his victory over the Dakota Indians at the battle of Sand Hill. His mention in this song is surprising; his involvement in the Utah expedition was so brief that his Dictionary of American Bioigraphy entry doesn't even mention it.
Roud lumps this with "Du Dah Day." This strikes me as possible -- they use the same tune and are about Mormon history -- but they are not really about the same event, and the Ballad Index splits.... - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Hubb236

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