Annotation:Off to Charleston

Find traditional instrumental music

Back to Off to Charleston


OFF TO CHARLESTON. AKA - "I'm Off for Charleston/I'm Off to Charlestown." American, March (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The march is variant for military use of the minstrel song "I'm Off for Charleston/I'm Off to Charlestown" [1] by William Donaldson, published in 1850 and dedicated to Charles White Esq. See note for "Annotation:I'm Off to Charlestown" for more about Donaldson. A variant of the tune is "Carrolltown Breakdown (2) (The)," which Samuel Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle, 1981) considers a derivative of "Buffalo Gals (1)."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Hopkins (American Veteran Fifer), 1905; No. 118.

Recorded sources:




Back to Off to Charleston