We Are Coming, Father Abraham

DESCRIPTION: "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more... We leave our plows and workshops Our wives and children dear...." The song describes how those left behind are doing the young men's work so they may put down the rebels
AUTHOR: Words: James Sloan Gibbons
EARLIEST DATE: 1862 (New York Evening Post)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar, pp. 104-107, "We Are Coming, Father Abr'am" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SoldierSongsAndHomeFrontBalladsOfCivilWar, pp. 44-45, "We Are Coming, Father Abr'am" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saunders/Root-MusicOfStephenCFoster-Vol2, pp. 217-220+436, "We Are Coming , Father Abraam, 300,000 More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 364, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham" (1 text plus a collection of parodies)
Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, pp. 113-114, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham" (1 text, with a photo of the original manuscript facing p 114)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2510, p. 169, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham, 600,000 more" (11 references)
Hill-PoemsAndSongsOfTheCivilWar, pp. 213-214, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham" (1 text)
ST SCW44 (Full)
Roud #31244
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, rpbaasm 1180 ["words from the New York Evening Post ; music composed and arranged by S.J. Adams"], "We Are Coming Father Abraham 3000,000 More," Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston), c.1862; also rpbaasm 1184 ["set to music by P.S. Gilmore"], "We Are Coming Father Abraam Three Hundred Thousand More"; rpbaasm 1185 ["words by William Cullen Bryant music by G. R. Poulton"], "300,000 more!" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb40573b, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also cw10594a, "Three Hundred Thousand More"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hold On, Abraham"
SAME TUNE:
How Are You Green Backs? ("We're coming, Father Abram, one hundred thousand more, Five hundred presses printing us....") (tune from one or another version of this song, probably Foster's, plus a chorus from Foster's "That's What's the Matter"; Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 364; Deems Taylor et al, _A Treasury of Stephen Foster_, Random House, 1946, p. 147; Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 61)
We're Coming Fodder Abraham (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 365)
NOTES [233 words]: This was originally published as a poem, "Three Hundred Thousand More," in the July 16, 1862 edition of the New York Evening Post.
It was so popular that at least eight musical arrangements were published, including those by L.O. Emerson (this last may have been the most popular; at least, it's the one Silber quotes), Stephen C. Foster (the Foster sheet music doesn't even mention the name of Gibbons!), and P. S. Gilmore. (For the full list, see the notes to Saunders & Root. See also the list of printed versions on p. 169 of Wolf-AmericanSongSheets).
I don't know if this can be considered a traditional song, under the circumstances, but it certainly shows up in a lot of anthologies! - RBW
The attribution to William Cullen Bryan is also on LOCSheet Music #577 [cover only] "We Are Coming Father Abra'am 300.000 More," Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston), 1862: "Poem by Wm Cullen Bryant Music by L.O. Emerson." Broadside LOCSheet rpbaasm 1180 commentary: "From poem first published in the New York Evening Post, July 16, 1862: We are coming, Father Abraham / James Sloan Gibbons. Cf. BAL, v. 1, p. 346. The words sometimes erroneously attributed to Wm. Cullen Bryant, or J. [!] Cullen Bryant."
Broadside LOCSinging sb40573b: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
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File: SCW44

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