The Bonnie Blue Flag

“The Bonnie Blue Flag”, also known as “We Are a Band of Brothers”, is an 1861 marching song associated with the Confederate States of America. The words were written by the entertainer Harry McCarthy, with the melody taken from the song “The Irish Jaunting Car”. The song’s title refers to the unofficial first flag of the Confederacy, the Bonnie Blue Flag. The left flag on the sheet-music is the Bonnie Blue Flag. The song was premiered by lyricist Harry McCarthy during a concert in Jackson, Mississippi, in the spring of 1861 and performed again in September of that same year at the New Orleans Academy of Music for the First Texas Volunteer Infantry regiment mustering in celebration. The New Orleans music publishing house of A.E. Blackmar issued six editions of “The Bonnie Blue Flag” between 1861 and 1864 along with three additional arrangements. The “band of brothers” mentioned in the first line of the song recalls the well known St. Crispin’s Day Speech in William Shakespeare’s play Henry V The Bonnie Blue Flag, the namesake and subject of the song. Dora Allison, Little Miss Bonnie Blue. From the United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division. Photo by Charles R. Rees These lyrics appear in a version held by the Library of Congress.[ It was published by A. E. Blackmar and Brother in New Orleans in 1861. The second line is sometimes given as “fighting for the property we gained by honest toil.” University of San Diego professor Steve Schoenherr and the library of Duke University[3] record the “property” version which also has a publication date of 1861. When Major General Benjamin Butler captured New Orleans, he allegedly arrested Blackmar,[4] fined him $500, destroyed all copies of the music, and ordered that anyone caught whistling or singing “The Bonnie Blue Flag” would be fined $25 (roughly $500 in the 2010s Eleven other editions of the song were published with different lyrics. Annie Chambers Ketchum, a Confederate widow who risked her liberty to publish new verses to be sung, published a new version of the song under the title “The Gathering Song.”