Brass-Mounted Army, The

DESCRIPTION: The soldier complains of the unfairness of Army life and the abuse he suffers at the hands of officers: "Oh, how do you like the army, The brass-mounted army, The high-falutin' army Where eagle buttons rule?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1865
KEYWORDS: Civilwar abuse soldier army
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Randolph 221, "The Brass-Mounted Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 211-213, "The Brass-Mounted Army" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 221)
Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar, pp. 198-200, "The Brass-Mounted Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SoldierSongsAndHomeFrontBalladsOfCivilWar, pp. 20-21, "The Brass-Mounted Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 180, "The Brass-Mounted Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BRSSARMY*
Roud #6693
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wait for the Wagon" (tune)
NOTES [223 words]: Silber attributes this to "an anonymous soldier of Col. A Buchel's regiment." This appears to be Augustus Carl Büchel (1813-1864), who was a German soldier with extraordinary experience, having studied in Russian and obtained the rank of Colonel in the Turkish army. He then went to America, fighting in the Mexican War on the staff of Zachary Taylor. He became a Texan, and was colonel of the 1st Texas Cavalry when he was killed in 1864.
T. R. Fehrenbach, Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, American Legacy Press, 1968, p. 351, lists him as one of a handful of foreign-born officers, and the only prominent German, to join the Texas armed forces. Fehrenbach also says that the few Germans in Texas mostly supported the Confederacy; I wonder if Buchel (as he took to spelling his name after moving to the New World) helped influence that.
I don't know why the song would be attached to him; possibly it was because those old German officers were considered so rule-bound. But there certainly isn't anything in the song that is specific to him; indeed, I would have guessed it was a northern song.
Some southern versions refer to a [General] Kirby, presumably General Edmund Kirby Smith, sent to command in Texas when Grant's Vicksburg campaign was cutting the Confederacy in two. This is another interesting link to Texas. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: R221

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography