What the Rabble Have Done
They taxed us without our consent,
we who though we were Englishmen,
said we had no say in governance,
so we simply boycotted them,
threw their tea into the harbor,
let them know that we’d had enough,
they sent troops to beat our spirits down,
didn’t think we would be all that tough.
But when they marched for Bunker Hill
two times we made the redcoats run,
they crippled themselves for ‘victory,’
come and see what the rabble have done.
And when they arrived in great force,
our militias then tasted defeat,
they forced our forces from New York,
and pressed us down though New Jersey.
Many thought the game was over,
that is was but a matter of time,
then Washington crossed that river
to declare we were still in the fight.
Surprised all the dreaded Hessians,
asleep in their beds at Trenton,
didn’t lose a single soldier,
come and see what the rabble have done.
When Burgoyne started marching south,
determined to split up this land,
citizen soldiers from all around
assembled to challenge the man.
Locked in stalemate at Saratoga,
the British went out probing,
not expecting our forces would stand up,
much less charge forwards attacking.
The great professional army
soon would find itself overrun,
the first big redcoat surrender,
come and see what the rabble have done.
When Britain took Philadelphia,
the rabble went to Valley Forge,
Britain thought they all would freeze,
dwindle away until no more.
But those cold men, no food or shoes,
persisted against winter’s chill,
learned old Europe’s fighting style,
under Von Steuben they would drill.
At Monmouth they gave just what they got,
held their own until the setting sun,
beat the British at their own game,
come and see what the rabble have done.
Again at Cowpens, Stony Point,
King Mountain out in the back woods,
when the royal army struck at us,
we gave it back just as good,
until finally at Yorktown,
a French fleet blocking the escape,
the rabble came for Cornwallis,
who could only yield to his fate.
They played ‘The World Turned Upside Down,’
believed that the peasants had won,
not understanding who they had fought,
come and see what us Free Men have done.
Copyright © David Welch | Year Posted 2019
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