Annotation:Cogad na Sith (1)
X:1 T:War or peace I care not which T:S' coma leam fhèin cogadh no sith M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Slow" S:Morison - Highland Airs and Quicksteps, vol. 2, No. 3 (c. 1882) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Dmin D | D>CD F>GA | c>dc c2c | dfd d>cA | G>AG F2F | f>ed d>cA | G>Ac d2C | F>GF FGA | {G}F>DC D2 ||
COGAD/COGADH/CIGAUDG NA SITH [1] (Peace or War/War or Peace). AKA - "S' coma leam fhèin cogadh no sith" (War or peace I care not which." Scottish, Pipe Air. D Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. Played to inspire the troops by gallant Kenneth Mackay piper to the Grenedier Company of the 79th Regiment (Cameron Highlanders) at Waterloo, when he bravely stepped outside the protection of his comrades' traditional square formation (formed to receive the charge of the French cavalry), walking too and fro before the enemy. O'Neill (1913) relates its similar use in India, when a piper in Lork McLeod's regiment, seeing the British army giving way before superior numbers, played "War or Peace" which inspired the Highlanders with such spirit that they rallied and cut through their enemies. For this circumstance Sir Eyre Coote, filled with admiration, presented the regiment with fifty pounds to buy a stand of pipes. Still another military anecdote has pipers of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders playing the tune at St. Piere during the Peninsular War. The first lines of the song set to it go:
War or peace, peace or war, its all the same to me,
In war I might be killed, in peace I might be hanged!
