The Caissons Go Rolling Along: A Song History

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"The Caissons Go Rolling Along," also known as "The Caisson Song," was written in the Philippines in 1908 by 1st Lt. Edmund Gruber, a field artillery officer, and its first words described life in a horse-drawn artillery unit.[1] A history page from Army MWR at Fort Gordon says the idea came to Gruber on a hard march across the Zambales Mountains, that fellow lieutenants Robert Danford and William Bryden helped finish the words in March 1908, and that Gruber was teaching it to officers arriving at Fort Stotsenburg.[2] Danford, as quoted on that page, recalled that the song was first sung in public at a post reception and quickly spread to the six Field Artillery regiments of the time.[2] The U.S. Marine Band's notes on Sousa's march give March 1908 as the date and "Camp Stotsenburg, Philippine Islands" as the place, and say the song was then known by several names, among them "The Caisson Song" and "The Field Artillery Song."[3]

Old photograph of horse-drawn field artillery guns and caisson wagons lined up on a parade ground

[Mexican War, 1914: Field artillery and caisson wagons on parade ground], photographic print, c1914. Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the song.

During World War I, at the request of Lt. George Friedlander of the 306th Field Artillery, John Philip Sousa reworked the tune in a new key, with fresh harmony and a livelier rhythm, and published it as the "U.S. Field Artillery" march.[3] Sousa's Band recorded it under his direction for Victor on December 21, 1917, and the disc, paired with his "Liberty Loan" march, was released in March 1918.[4] Sources differ on whether Gruber was paid: the Fort Gordon MWR page says Sousa had received the song from an officer who thought it dated from the Civil War, and made sure Gruber got royalties once Gruber asked.[2] The Marine Band's notes instead say Gruber raised no objection to Sousa's use of the song and gave up hope of royalties after his own copyright application was refused in 1930.[3] They add that in a 1942 lawsuit brought against the E. C. Schirmer Company, a court held that the melody had effectively been given over to the public, and that the ruling was upheld on appeal the following year.[3] A Library of Congress catalog record of a 1921 Edison disc by the New York Military Band describes the march as Sousa's arrangement of Gruber's song.[5]

After contests for a new Army song failed to produce a lasting one, the Army kept Gruber's melody and set new words by Harold Arberg, described on the Fort Gordon MWR page as a music adviser in the Adjutant General's office.[1][2] An Army article says Secretary of the Army Wilber Brucker dedicated the result, "The Army Goes Rolling Along," as the official Army song on Veterans Day, November 11, 1956, although another Army web page gives the year of adoption as 1952.[1][6] Shelley Stevens includes "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" in Baker's Dozen #13: Patriotic Tunes, a collection of 15 arrangements of service songs, patriotic numbers and traditional American songs for mountain dulcimer, all in DAD tuning, published by Fingers Of Steel.[7]

Our books that contain the song "The Caissons Go Rolling Along"

Sources

  1. U.S. Army: "Army returns to original song".
  2. U.S. Army MWR, Fort Gordon: "The Army Song".
  3. "The President's Own" United States Marine Band: "U.S. Field Artillery (1917)".
  4. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor 18430".
  5. Library of Congress: "The U.S. Field Artillery march".
  6. U.S. Army: "The Army Song".
  7. Fingers Of Steel: "Shelley Stevens, Baker's Dozen #13: Patriotic Tunes".
  8. Image: [Mexican War, 1914: Field artillery and caisson wagons on parade ground], photographic print, c1914. Library of Congress.

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