The exact date for this songsheet is unknown, but it references the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, which occurred in September 1862.
Transcript:
M’CLELLAN AND VICTORY!!
OR THE BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN AND THE UPRISING OF THE KEYSTONE STATE,
TUNE–“DAN TUCKER.”
I’ll sing a song, how brave MCCLELLAN
Gave the rebel foe a drilling,
And made them beat retreat in fear,
With this tune ringing in their ear,
Clear the way “Little MAC’s” advancing,
To set your Stonewall Jackson dancing.’
The rebels driven to theft and plunder,
Thought to scare us by their thunder,
They crossed the Potomac to Hagerstown,
To scare the women up and down.
Clear the way, “Little MAC’s” coming, &c
They plundered barns and fields of corn,
Of Maryland whiskey, took a horn,
They seized each union patriot there,
But Freedom’s Eagle sung in the air.
Oh! clear the way, for “MAC’s” advancing.
Stonewall Jackson and “Brag Lee,”
Now thought their course was clear and free,
To take Pennsylvania right off hand,
And carry Philadelphia to Dixey’s Land.
Clear the way “Little MAC” is coming.
So on they marched for their grand attack,
But the mighty mind of “Little MAC,”
Their plans and dodges kept his eye on,
As still as a mouse but as cool as a lion.
Clear the way, &c.
While the Keystone boys rushed nobly forth,
To stand by the state–the prop of the North,
Brave MAC gave the foe a blow in the rear,
Which made their Stonewall quake with fear.
Singing, clear the way, brave MAC is advancing
Upon the heights of old “South Mountain,’
He made their blood flow like a fountain,
Till old secession’s wings were clipt,
And Lee confessed himself “well whipped,’
Singing, clear the way, &c.
With HOOKER, FRANKLIN, and brave BURNSIDE,
He nobly turned the battle’s tide,
And drove them across the blue Potomac,
With battered heads and an empty stomach.
Singing, clear the way, &c.
The gallant RENO nobly fell,
But millions of brave hearts toll his knell,
And honor and glory crown the pall,
Of those who for the Union fall.
Singing, clear the way, &c
At Sharpsburg next, our gallant “MAC,”
Quickly followed suit and beat them back,
He seized their Longstreet by the knob,
And shelled the corn from Howell Cobb.
Singing, clear the way, &c.
At Harpers Ferry next he sold them,
And made the place “too hot to hold them.”
He bound by death or victory,
To set old Maryland safe and free.
Singing, clear the way, &c.
Three cheers for our glorious hero, “MAC,”
And the gallant army at his back,
He’s bound to march to victory forth,
Till the Union Flag floats South and North.
Singing, clear the way, &c.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1862, by J. MAGEE, 316 Chestnut St, Phila., in the District of the U.S., for the Eastern District of Penn’a.
Citataion: M’Clellan and victory!!. Philadelphia: J. Magee, 1862. A f.862mc