Pvt.. Tally Simpson, of the 3rd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, wrote to his sister in March of 1863, “The minstrels are carrying the day. They perform excellently and afford intense amusement.” In writing to his mother nine days later, he observed, “Tis said that Kershaw’s is the finest minstrel band in these parts, and I am inclined to believe it.”
“Oh Susanna,” penned by Stephen Collins Foster, is one of the most famous American songs ever created. It is certainly the most famous minstrel tune of that time and would have been heard frequently around camps in both the North and the South.
“Oh Susanna” was originally composed for the Minstrel Show stage in 1848 and met very little success in its first year of publication. In fact, Foster was thought to be a terrible businessman, earning less than one hundred dollars for the song and receiving little to no credit on later printings of the song. This very song was Foster’s first grand hit in a string of songs that would earn him the title of “America’s greatest composer.”
In the Nutmeggers’ recordings featured on “In High Water: Songs of the Civil War,” we hope to do justice to those musicians who came before us, and especially those who gave their all, that we might see “a new birth of freedom.” We seek to honor the spirit and humanity of those brave souls who fought so that this nation might live. This is their music, and these are their stories.
Sources
Guy R. Everson and Edward H. Simpson, Far, Far from Home: The Wartime Letters of Dick and Tally Simpson, 3rd South Carolina Volunteers (New York, 1994).
“Oh Susanna.” Song of America, Library of Congress, 2024, songofamerica.net/song/oh-susanna/.
“Oh Susanna.” Duke University Libraries Digital Collections, Duke University, repository.duke.edu/dc/hasm/n1329.
“Oh Susanna.” Ballad of America, Library of Congress, 2024, balladofamerica.org/oh-susanna/.
