"It ["Hail Columbia">[ was written in the summer of 1798, when war with France was thought to be inevitable. Congress was then in session in Philadelphia, deliberating upon that important subject, and acts of hostility had actually taken place. The contest between England and France was raging, and the people of the United States were divided into parties for the one side or the other, some thinking that policy and duty required us to espouse the cause of republican France, as she was called; while others were for connecting ourselves with England, under the belief that she was the great preservative power of good principles and safe government. The violation of our rights by both belligerents was forcing us from the just and wise policy of President Washington, which was to do equal justice to both, to take part with neither, but to preserve a strict and honest neutrality between them. The prospect of a rupture with France was exceedingly offensive to the portion of the people who espoused her cause, and the violence of the spirit of party has never risen higher, I think not so high, in our country, as it did at that time, upon that question. The theatre was then open in our city. A young man belonging to it, whose talent was as a singer, was about to take his benefit. I had known him when he was at school. On this acquaintance, he called on me one Saturday afternoon, his benefit being announced for the following Monday. His prospects were very disheartening; but he said that if he could get a patriotic song adapted to the tune of the 'President's March,' he did not doubt of a full house; that the poets of the theatrical corps had been trying to accomplish it, but had not succeeded. I told him I would try what I could do for him. The object of the author was to get up an American spirit, which should be independent of and above the interests, passions, and policy of both belligerents: and look and feel exclusively for our own honour and rights. No allusion is made to France or England, or the quarrel between them: or to the question, which was most at fault in their treatment of us: of course the song found favour with both parties, for both were Americans; at least neither could disavow the sentiments and feelings it inculcated."
Page 278. Ye Sons of Columbia: an Ode. From "Original Poems by Thomas Green Fessenden, Esq., author of Terrible Tractoration, or Caustic's Petition to the Royal College of Physicians, and Democracy Unveiled. Philadelphia: Printed at the Lorenzo Press of E. Bronson. 1806." The following note to this poem appears in the first edition: "The above Ode was written, set to musick, and sung on a publick occasion in Rutland, Vermont, July, 1798. At that time the armament, which afterwards sailed to Egypt, under Buonaparte, lay at Toulon: its destination was not known in America, but many supposed that it was intended to waft the blessings of French Liberty to the United States." Fessenden seems to have been possessed of an acute hatred of the French, due, perhaps, to his residence in England. Three other poems in this little book are devoted to denouncing Napoleon, the Jacobins, and the "sans culotte"—of which latter phrase he was singularly fond.
Page 283. So the common sailor died. James did not die. He recovered from his wounds, served through the second war with England and lived till about 1840.
Page 283. Skipper Ireson's Ride. Whittier heard the story of Skipper Ireson in 1828, when he was a student at Haverhill Academy. It was told him by a schoolmate from Marblehead, and he began at once to write the ballad, but it was not published until 1857, when it appeared in the second number of the "Atlantic Monthly."
Mr. Samuel Roads, Jr., in his "History of Marblehead," contended that Ireson was in no way responsible for the abandonment of the disabled ship, and Whittier, in writing to Mr. Roads, says: "I have now no doubt that thy version of Skipper Ireson's ride is the correct one. My verse was founded solely on a fragment of rhyme which I heard from one of my early schoolmates, a native of Marblehead. I supposed the story to which it referred dated back at least a century. I knew nothing of the participants, and the narrative of the ballad was pure fancy. I am glad for the sake of truth and justice that the real facts are given in thy book. I certainly would not knowingly do injustice to any one, dead or living."
The use of dialect in the refrain was suggested by Lowell, the editor of the "Atlantic" at the time.
Page 285. The Times. McCarty's "National Song Book" (Philadelphia, 1861) is a real treasure-house of ballads written during the second war with England. "The Times" is from this source, as are many of the other ballads quoted here.
Page 287. Hull's Surrender. This ballad was copied from a broadside in the possession of the library of Harvard University. It is so tattered that one stanza, the last, is indecipherable and had to be omitted.
Page 289. Commanded by Dacres the grandee O. Captain (afterward Rear-Admiral of the Red) James Richard Dacres.
Page 292. Where Brock, the proud insulter, rides. Sir Isaac Brock. He had received Hull's surrender less than two months before. He was pierced by three bullets as he led his troops into battle at Queenstown and died where he fell.