Pattonia, the Pride of the Plains [Laws B12]

DESCRIPTION: Rangers at a frontier post are hard-pressed by Indians. The commander sends the singer to get help. His swift horse Pattonia carries him through to safety, even though an arrow has pinned his foot to the stirrup
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931
KEYWORDS: horse injury Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN: US(MW,So,SW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Laws B12, "Pattonia, the Pride of the Plains"
Randolph 207, "Pattonia, the Pride of the Plains" (1 text)
Larkin-SingingCowboy, pp. 116-118, "Plantonio" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 67, "Pattonio" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HellBoundTrain 23, "Platonia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore, pp. 155-157, "Patanio" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp. 549-551, "Plantonio, the Pride of the Plain" (1 text)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 264-265, "Plantonio, the Pride of the Plain" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 708, PATTONIO
ADDITIONAL: Powder River Jack and Kitty Lee's _Songs of the Range: Cowboy Wails of Cattle Trails_, Chart Music, 1937, pp. 6-7, "Platonia, The Pride of the Plains" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3236
NOTES [81 words]: As far as I know, no one knows the source of this ballad, and the author is unknown.
There is, however, a fairly close historical parallel told of none other than Wild Bill Hickok. Bill O'Neal, Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters, pp. 135-136 (entry on James Butler Hickok), notes that, in 1868, Hickok was part of a party surrounded by Cheyennes in Colorado. Hickok was chosen to ride forth seeking rescue. He made it through the lines -- in the process suffering a foot wound. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: LB12

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