Annotation:National Lancer's Hornpipe

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NATIONAL LANCERS' HORNPIPE. American, Hornpipe. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Composed by Harry Carleton, about whom nothing is known, although he may have been an East-coast [United States] journeyman composer of light music. The name may also have been a pseudonym. The National Lancers [1] was (and is) a volunteer light cavalry militia unit formed in Boston in October, 1836, whose primary (and mostly ceremonial) purpose was to guard and escort to governor of the State of Massachusetts. While membership was not restricted to the upper class, as with many such ceremonial units, each trooper had to supply and maintain his own horse, which did limit enrollment. During the Civil War members of the unit saw action as part of the Army of the Potomac, while remaining home guard elements of the unit helped quell the Boston Draft Riot (the counterpart of the more famous New York City draft riots) in July 1863.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 105. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1884; p. 141.

Recorded sources: