The Buckland Races

This song commemorates a cavalry battle near Buckland Mills, Virginia, in October of 1863.  General J.E.B. Stuart had been ordered by Robert E. Lee to pull out of the area around Bristoe Station so that he and his cavalry could come over and screen the Confederate infantry near Manassas.  As Stuart began his withdrawal, Union cavalry General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick moved after him, boasting in the newspapers that he was going to catch Stuart before he got to Warrenton.  Stuart, hearing of this, planned for his subordinate General Fitzhugh Lee (R.E. Lee's nephew; Fitz is the "General Lee" referred to in the song) to sweep in and attack the rear of Kilpatrick's column, at which point the pursued Stuart would turn and join the attack from the front.

A few miles from Warrenton, near Centreville, Stuart's column crossed Chestnut Hill.  Once they reached the other side, Stuart stopped, turned, and waited to hear the sound of the cannon which would signal that Fitz Lee's attack had begun.  Kilpatrick, never suspecting a trap, led his men at a trot up the hill.  Then the signal cannon sounded, Fitz Lee's men struck Kilpatrick's column, and Stuart's troopers charged back over the hill to attack from the other side.

The song tells the rest of the story, which ended with Kilpatrick's men fleeing, in the words of one of the rebels, "in great confusion and were pursued for several miles with unrelenting fury."  Some of the Yankees were unhorsed in the chaos, and part of the pursuit consisted of riderless horses and bluecoats running on foot.  The chase finally ended when the cavalry came within sight of the Union I Corps infantry, whereupon Stuart and Lee pulled away in triumph.  Stuart called this "the Buckland Races," and another participant referred to it as "the steeplechase of the war."

Click here for the tune

On a march with Gen'ral Lee in October sixty-three
With the tears of Bristoe Station in our eyes,
Took a turn at Centreville, made a stand at Buckland Mills
Where the rebel yell rose upward to the skies

Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!  The Buckland Races;
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!  The day is won!
Drink a health to Gen'ral Stuart and the rebel boys who knew it
Sent Kilpatrick and his Yankees on the run!

On the road to Warrenton, Stuart's battle plans begun:
Shield the rebels at Manassas on the move.
At a place called Chestnut Hill, drew the Yankees there to kill
And we sent them all a-runnin' ballyhoo!

Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!  The Buckland Races;
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!  The day is won!
Drink a health to Gen'ral Stuart and the rebel boys who knew it
Sent Kilpatrick and his Yankees on the run!

Keep the Yankees on the run all the way to Warrenton,
Keep the fire up their backsides as they flee!
First they thought they won the day, then they turned and ran away
When they met with General Stuart and Fitzhugh Lee!

Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!  The Buckland Races;
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!  The day is won!
Drink a health to Gen'ral Stuart and the rebel boys who knew it
Sent Kilpatrick and his Yankees on the run!

Civil War Music