Yes this is inspired by the song and the fact that you were the biggest colony when this song was relevant.

Mostly refering to the wars of the Spanish and the Austrian succession in the first half of the 18th century.

20 comments

  1. I had to google what that was. There are a lot of Appalachian folk songs that can be traced back to British folk songs (some of them don’t even need to be traced back, they’re basically still the same songs), but I don’t know if that one ever made it over (at least, I haven’t seen a Doc Watson recording of it, which is 99% of my exposure to folk music). Nice song though.

    Do we even know which war that was?

  2. I had to do some Googling to figure out what you were talking about. I don’t think the song you’re referring to is very well-known here.

  3. I had to google this.

    These references will not be well understood by the vast majority of Americans.

  5. Had to Google it.

    Here we call it the French and Indian war because we fought French and Indians.

    And yes my family was here long enough for one of my ancestors to have fought in it. We mainly joke about how incompetent the British at was during the whole thing.

  6. I don’t know what that means. My German ancestors came here during ~1860s/Franco-Prussian war because one brother got killed by a sniper, then the father sent the other 3 brothers to America so he wouldn’t lose any more sons. Take with that what you will.

  7. If anybody in my family was fighting, it would’ve been my moms side of the family. Grandpa’s family would’ve still been in Switzerland, and Grandma’s family would’ve been in Scotland and England. However, I have no particular reason to believe that anyone was involved.

    (Dad’s side of the family in Japan would have neither known nor cared, I suspect.)

  8. Moms side was German and moved here in 1850s so it’s very possible. But who knows. Great song by the way.

  10. Most of my European ancestors were still in Switzerland and Ireland at the time.

    However, I’m also Cherokee, as in, legitimately – none of the “my great grandmother was a Cherokee princess” stuff and I have my tribal ID. I don’t have any familial records beyond my 5x great grandfather who would have been born in 1759, but he and most other Cherokee born around that time would have participated in the Cherokee-American Wars that took place from 1776 – 1794. Unfortunately, that’s when nearly all of my family’s oral history ends as well. We don’t have anything verifying that to be absolutely true, but it’s something that has been passed down – plus, the war encompassed the entire Cherokee Nation, so it would make sense.

    The French and Indian War basically set the scene for the Cherokee-American Wars, which is why I mention it. I very likely had ancestors who participated in that as well, but I can’t say for sure. My 5x grandpa, his wife, and daughter were forcibly removed from East Tennessee in the the late 1830s (as well as his daughter’s husband, their children, and her husband’s family). He was 79 and although his wife passed along the way, he miraculously survived and lived for another couple years in Oklahoma.

    **For anyone who isn’t in the US or who might otherwise be unfamiliar: I mention that I’m “legitimately” Cherokee because a lot of people erroneously claim to have Cherokee ancestry and they definitely have no cultural association with the tribe. It just seems to be common family folklore, especially in the Southeast or in places like Oklahoma. Blood quantum laws are a thing amongst many tribes, but I generally consider them to be a way to slowly extinguish Indigenous culture – while ancestry clearly matters to some degree, “nativeness” is much more about kinship than it is blood quantum.

  12. Had to look this up, never heard the song. I’m assuming you mean the Seven Years War, which here the relevant part was the French and Indian War. Yeah, I had family who fought in that. After the fighting was over, they settled in what was later Western Pennsylvania and we’ve been here ever since.

  14. Just FYI: You are using the Term “High Germany” which refers to an area that is roughly south of the Danube and north of the Alps. While the Folksong you are referring to is indeed about the War of the Spanish Succession, you can only put roughly 10% of the wars of it being actually active in Higher Germany.

    The other german belligerents Cologne and Prussia where mostly situated in Low Germany and the Austrian are – well – outside of that area, too.

  15. There were the intercolonial wars between France and UK and Austria would flip flop, idk about Germany except Brandenburg-Prussia

  16. I like the song, or at least the version of it I’ve heard by The Dreadnoughts. I don’t know anything about the Cruel Wars specifically.

    I had several ancestors come over on the Mayflower and the majority of ancestors (possibly all) came over into New England between the early 1600’s and mid-1800’s at the latest.

    I’m sure I had ancestors fight in the French & Indian War. I know I had ancestors and relatives who fought in every war the US (or the colonies) were involved in from the Revolutionary War through Bosnia in the 90’s.

  18. No, most German Americans ancestors arrived in basically 4 or 5 eras.

    1. Hanseatic trade outposts in the New World(1620s-1800(this is very small percentage, largely anglicized before the Revolution) and later Entrupenuers of Germany, making economic immigration
    2. Subjects of King George I-III(Primarily 1709-1740ish). during George I reign, severe economic poverty in Pfalz led to Queen Anne offering the new world colonization as an escape landed about 2100 Germans in Upstate New York, at a time when the Colonial population of New York was less than 50,000.(This is probably peripherally related to the Wars of Succesion) later waves from the Palatinate and Alsace would settle in Lousianna and Arkansas
    3. Persecute Religious Minorities of the 17th and 18th century(Menonites, Moravians, Baptists, and yes Amish)(1750-1800)
    4. Post Napoleonic Era(1820-1900) Between the ravages of the Napoleonic era, and the rise of Prussia to Empire, six million Germans would emigrate to the United States, largely Catholics, and losers of Wars with Prussia. It seemed the Prussians were perfectly happy to see them leave forever for the new world. this is the era in which my Bavarian Ancestors left, largely due to Prussia forming its empire.
    5. Post World War I. After the First world war, another wave of German Emigration ran until the quota system was devised for American Immigration policy, Americans did not have the sort of anti-German sentiment present in France and Britain at the time.

  20. This question would make a lot more sense if you’d use the normal names for the wars.

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