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Come All You British Heroes
1
(1)
Come
all you British heroes
2,
I pray you lend
your ears .
Draw up your British forces,
And
then your volunteers.
We're going to fight the
Yankee3 boys
By water and by
land,
Chorus - And we will never return
til we conquer sword in hand.
We're the noble lads of
Canada
Come to arms, boys,
come.
(2)
O now the time has come my boys
,
To cross the Yankee's line.
We remember
they were rebels once ,
And conquered
John
Burgoyne4.
We'll subdue
these mighty democrats
And pull their dwellings down,
And we'll have the
States5 inhabitated
With subjects
to the
Crown6.
(3)
We've as choice a British
army
As ever crossed the seas.
We'll burn
both town and city,
And with smoke becloud the skies.
We'll subdue the old green mountain, boys,
Their
Washington7 is gone.
And we'll
play them Yankee Doodle
As the Yankees did
Burgoyne.
(4)
Now we've reached the Plattsburgh
banks, my boys,
And here we'll make our stand,
Until we take the Yankee fleet
MacDonald hath command;
We've the
"Growler"8 and the
"Eagle"9That from
Smith9 we took away,
And
we'll have their noble fleet
That lies anchored in the
bay.
Finis
Notes
1.
Other versions of this ballad have the title of 'Noble Lads of
Canada', and include further stanzas. See:
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiNOBLELAD.html
2.
This ballad
provides a re-telling of the Battle of Plattsburgh during the War of 1812, which
occurred from November 6th to 11th, 1814. The battle marked the end of the final
invasion of the northern United States by British forces. A combined land and
naval assault under the command of British General Sir George Prévost (land
forces) and Captain George Downie (naval squadron) attacked the town of
Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain. The United States naval forces under the command
of Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough defeated the British naval squadron, and
the British ground forces retreated soon after under pressure from United States
troops led by Brigadier General Alexander Macomb. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Plattsburgh
3.
'Yankee' is a
colloquial name for American.
4.
John Burgoyne was a British
military officer whose surrender to United States troops during the American
Revolutionary War helped galvanize France's entry into the conflict. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Burgoyne#Early_American_War_of_Independence
5.
'States' is a colloquial name for the United States.
6.
'Crown' is a colloquial name for the British Empire.
7.
Refers to General and later President George Washington. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington
8.
USS Growler was a
sloop captured by the Royal Navy prior to the Battle of Plattsburgh, and renamed
HMS Chubb. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Growler_%281812_sloop%29
9.
HMS
Eagle was an American gunboat captured by the Royal Navy prior to the Battle of
Plattsburg. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eagle
9.
Refers to Lieutenant Sidney Smith, commander of the USS Growler prior to its
capture by the Royal navy.
See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Growler_%281812_sloop%29
