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The National Music of America. 143
Again, it may be accepted that the song was against the Americans at first, and this point we shall now emphasise by citing many of its uses. At first we find it only among the English. Here is the earliest notice of its performance:
" The British fleet was bro't to anchor near Castle William, in Boston Harbor, and the opinion of the visitors to the ships was that the ' Yankey Doodle Song' was the capital piece in the band of their musicians." —New York Journal, Oct. 13, 1768.
The same band that played the " Yankey Doodle Song" at this time, also gave the Bostonians better music, but " Yankee Doodle" seems to have taken root immediately, and was often played in the streets of Boston thereafter. It began and ended the American Revolution, as we shall presently see.
Undoubtedly the word " Yankee" was now used as opprobrium; in the evidence regarding the Boston massacre, we find that |
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