"Oh we'll hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree" (and similar) is a variant of the American folk song "John Brown's Body" that was sung by the United States military, Unionist civilians, and freedmen during and after the American Civil War.[3][4][5][6] The phrase and associated imagery became relevant to the post-war legal issues surrounding the potential prosecution of former Confederate politicians and officers; the lyric was sometimes referenced in political cartoons and artworks of the time, and in political debates continuing well into the post-Reconstruction era.[7][8][9][10]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/A_Yankee_Song.jpg/220px-A_Yankee_Song.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/The_Sour_Apple_Tree%2C_or_Jeff_Davis%27_Last_Ditch_-_Mdp.39015096693281-seq_1.jpg/220px-The_Sour_Apple_Tree%2C_or_Jeff_Davis%27_Last_Ditch_-_Mdp.39015096693281-seq_1.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Freedoms_Immortal_Triumph_Cartoon_American_Civil_War_cropped_adjusted_01.png/220px-Freedoms_Immortal_Triumph_Cartoon_American_Civil_War_cropped_adjusted_01.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Panel_from_Andy%27s_Trip_by_Thomas_Nast_-_Harper%27s_Weekly_-_October_27_1866_01.jpg/220px-Panel_from_Andy%27s_Trip_by_Thomas_Nast_-_Harper%27s_Weekly_-_October_27_1866_01.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Jeff._D_hung_on_a_%22sour_apple_tree%22_or_treason_made_odious_LCCN2003674561.jpg/220px-Jeff._D_hung_on_a_%22sour_apple_tree%22_or_treason_made_odious_LCCN2003674561.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/%22White_Front_Shoe_Store_advertisement%22%2C_The_Dayton_Herald%2C_February_6%2C_1888.jpg/220px-%22White_Front_Shoe_Store_advertisement%22%2C_The_Dayton_Herald%2C_February_6%2C_1888.jpg)
History
editJeff Davis and the sour apple tree appear in print as early as August 1861.[11] In 1880, a U.S. Army veteran claimed credit for first singing the lyric in spring 1862 in Virginia, having taken inspiration from a prior song about a "sick monkey in a sour apple tree."[12] A Civil War-era pieced-quilt block pattern called Apple Tree probably references the song lyric.[13] In 1947 a survivor of American slavery named Perry Vaughn recalled, "I fought in Abe Lincoln's army and played the bass horn in the Army band. I can still remember, like it was yesterday, playing 'We'll Hang Jeff Davis on a Sour Apple Tree.'"[14]
A less bloodthirsty variant was "We'll feed Jeff Davis sour apples 'til he gets the diarhee."[15]
Richard Wright's 1938 novella Big Boy Leaves Home references a later-developed white supremacist response: "We'll hang ever nigger t a sour apple tree."[16]
Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died of natural causes in 1889.[17]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "OUR NEXT VICE-PRESIDENT. Speech of Gov. Johnson at Nashville". NY Times. June 16, 1864.
- ^ Maslowski, Peter (1978). Treason Must be Made Odious: Military Occupation and Wartime Reconstruction in Nashville, Tennessee, 1862-65. KTO Press. ISBN 978-0-527-62185-8.
- ^ Finseth, Ian Frederick (2006). The American Civil War: An Anthology of Essential Writings. Taylor & Francis. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-415-97744-9.
- ^ Kobbé, Gustav (1906). Famous American Songs. T.Y. Crowell. p. 158.
- ^ French, Justus Clement; Cary, Edward (1865). The Trip of the Steamer Oceanus to Fort Sumter and Charleston, S. C.: Comprising the ... Programme of Exercises at the Re-raising of the Flag Over the Ruins of Fort Sumter, April 14th, 1865. "The Union" Steam Printing House. pp. 90–91.
- ^ Kent, Charles Nelson (1898). History of the Seventeenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. 1862-1863. By order of the Seventeenth New Hampshire veteran association.
- ^ "Jeff. D hung on a "sour apple tree" or treason made odious". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "Hang him on the sour apple tree". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "John Brown exhibiting his hangman". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "A Memory of the Past". Ellsworth Reporter. June 10, 1886. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "Massachusetts has another new regiment..." Fayetteville Semi-Weekly Observer. August 22, 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ "Jeff Davis on a Sour Apple Tree: How the Famous Song Had Its Origin in the Army". Wood County Reporter. August 6, 1885. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ Brackman, Barbara (December 1, 2012). Barbara Brackman's Civil War Sampler: 50 Quilt Blocks with Stories from History. C&T Publishing Inc. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-60705-567-9.
- ^ "Madison's 3 Surviving Ex-Slaves Total 288 Years". The Capital Times. August 3, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-08-10. & "Bondage Years Still Vivid to Ex-Slaves Here". The Capital Times. August 3, 1947. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
- ^ Coates, Ta-Nehisi (September 8, 2011). "The Glory of the Coming of the Lord". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ Carpio, Glenda (March 21, 2019). The Cambridge Companion to Richard Wright. Cambridge University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-108-47517-4.
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Jefferson Davis: A Featured Biography". www.senate.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
Further reading
edit- Kirk, Brianna (April 1, 2013). "Jeff Davis, a Sour Apple Tree, and Treason: A Case Study of Fear in the Post-Civil War Era". Student Publications (Cupola.gettysburg.edu).
- Lepore, Jill (December 4, 2023). "What Happened When the U.S. Failed to Prosecute an Insurrectionist Ex-President". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X.(subscription required)
- Moseley, Caroline (Autumn 1984). ""When Will Dis Cruel War be Ober?" Attitudes toward Blacks in Popular Song of the Civil War". American Music. 2 (3): 1–26. doi:10.2307/3052003. JSTOR 3052003.