Annotation:Pilgrim (3) (The) a Troop
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PILGRIM [3], THE, A TROOP. AKA - "Pilgrims Blithe & Jolly, a Troop (The)," "Pilgrims Blith and Boney." English (?), American; March (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The march appears in a few musicians' manuscript collections of the American War of Independence, Thomas Nixon Jr., Aaron Thompson, and William Morris. It was also included in a later manuscript by Micah Hawkins. Nixon was a 13 yr. old who accompanied his father in answer to the call for militia to counter the British incursions at Lexington and Concord, Mass. He remained with the Continental Army for several years as a fifer, and, in 1780 when the war shifted to the southern colonies, he returned to his home in Framingham, Connecticut. Aaron Thompson was a New Jersey fifer who compiled a commonplace book of tunes from 1777-1782, who entered the tune as "Pilgrims Blithe & Jolly, a Troop". William Morris, of Captain William Tucker's Company, First Regiment, Hunterdon County Militia, New Jersey, was a fife player who compiled his commonplace book in 1776 and 1777, using the same title for the tune as did Nixon-- "The Pilgrim, a Troop". New York City flute player Micah Hawkins included the tune in his 1794 copybook as "Pilgrims Blith and Boney." Hawkins composed the first truly American opera, and was the uncle of Long Island fiddler and painter William Sidney Mount [1] (1807-1868).
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