Annotation:Scotch Grey's March (1)
X:1 T:Scotch Grey’s March [1] M:C| L:1/8 S:Thomas Nixon Jr./Joseph Long music copybook (c. 1776- 1778, p. 19) N:Nixon (1762-1842) was a 13 yr. old from Framingham, Ct., who accompanied his father N:to the opening conflicts of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord, N:and who served as a fifer in the army until 1780. K:D f2 ed e2a2|gfed c2 BA|d2 A2 (Bc) d2|g2f2 e4| f2 ed e2a2|gfed c2 BA|d2A2 BcdG|F2E2 D4:| |:F2 ED A2A2|Bcde dcBA|d2A2 (Bc)d2|g2f2 e4| f2 ed e2a2|gfed c2 BA|d2A2 BcdG|F2E2 D4:|]
SCOTCH GREY’S MARCH [1]. English, March (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune appears in several English and Amercan musicians' manuscript collections of the latter 18th century, including those of Thomas Nixon (Conn., 1776), William Williams (Pautuxit, R.I., 1775), John Shepherd (England, 1787), Dean Dexter (Dedham, Ma., 1800), John Hoff (Lancaster, Pa., 1797-99), John Buttery (England, 1797-1810), and the Cushing Eells Manuscript, written in Norwich, Connecticut, 1786-1790. Curiously, while there a relatively frequent appearances of this tune in military-oriented manuscript collections, no published versions in period collections have come to light.
The Scotch Greys were a regiment of dragoons first raised in 1681 by Sir Thomas Dalyell, to oppose the militant Covenanters in Scotland. Their uniforms were completely stone gray and they rode gray horses (the spelling ‘grey’ is English). Known as the Scots Greys from about the year 1700, the name was given official status in 1877, although the regiment is now part of the Royal Armoured Corps.