Show 1 I I Cadets f Ohi P Y y J J rt I r rJ J f i. i x I 4 p e M MI Mf I f i t t y f t 1 r r. r 4 d r. r r z f t r wr J iw y Y sr Sf r H W. W C iRr s. s r ra So r 1 4 X arfi 4 fry r v r. r v 4 rr v r r 4 Ka r f rK rr j r r r. r f 4 H r. r Y a f y y i K r fir et rN f. f s err nr t irr r r. r 00 KING 1 if w- w The famous o old dId ballad has as been sun sung for near nearly a century n f ff N r by the cadets of the United States ates Military Academy Its history makes good reading r Well We'll i never fall to drink to her and Benny BenDY Havens Oh HO was Benny Denny Havens Ask the next West Pointer you meet to tell you something about Benny Havens Ha He knows and and- you'll find that his eyes will kindle at atthe atthe the mention of the name says the New York Sun West Nest Pointers for half halt a cenS century century cen cen- tur tury Y have told the story of Benny S Havens they have bled and died with it on their lips Wherever Duty called they went their steps were never slow slow- With Alma Mater on their lips Ups and Benny Havens Oh Benny Havens Oh I is the epic of West Point It is a story in song the story of West Pointers and their sacrifices for duty honor West Nest Point and country This old academy of West West Vest Point laid out on a rugged shelf overlooking the majestic sweep of the Hudson has many prized traditions unsullied inalienable inalienable in In- alienable but none more sacred to he her sons than that of Benny Denny Havens Go to Cullum Memorial hall at West Yest Point and read in Imperishable letters letters letters let let- of bronze the story tory of her sons She has seen them march out of her singing Benny Havens Oh Ohl J 1 and seen them brought back while minute guns were echoing among the granite hills that surround her The history of West Point Is closely Interwoven with that of our country West Pointers have ha written bright pages in the annals of the land Their blood has watered Western plains and Northern wilds ot of snow Has stained Sierras Sierra's highest peaks where piercing wInd eer blow Has dyed deep red the Everglades and deeper still you know The sacred Montezuma shades and walls of Mexico Wherever duty has summoned them West Pointers Point Point- Pointers ers have carried Benny Havens Oh Ohl I IThe IThe The story of Benny Havens a vens Is la almost as old as that of the academy Itself Many many years ago ogo In 1824 to be precise Benny Havens took up his residence on the southern border of ot what then constituted the post of West Point Almost Im lm- Immediately Immediately mediately he be and the cadets became friends and of good company company com corn He was a genial soul generous pany puny and an Inimitable spinner of yarns arns and he invariably plied piled his visitors with buckwheat cakes and maple sirop Soon his refreshments acquired such fame that cadets often otten slipped away their duties and made their way to Bennys Benny's retreat where they found oblivion for their disciplinary night after atter taps saw half balf a woes Almost every dozen daring cadets who should have been In bed gathered around Bennys Benny's bountiful table Only for tor a short time lle did Id Bennys Benny's fare tare confine contine cakes and maple Grog itself f to buckwheat and wine nine nineties were added to the menu an addition Bennys Benny's popularity Increased tenfold About whereby this time the West authorities who liberalities liberali- liberali s 's had previously shut their eyes ees to Benny Bennys to declare a aon had come th the time that ties decided tar far as cadets were concerned con con- In so Benny Denny blockade on consequently Bennys Benny's haven of delight and became oft or limits for or the future general s and caught runnIng run run- fit was meted out by those punishment afterward Davis J Jefferson the blockade nIng distinction dis- dis distinction Confederate states had bad the of the president the first batch of cadets of beIng among mIdnight revels at Benny Benn for court mortis led warned arned that his generosity to cadets Benny was to discipline and that unless ire he irea was demoralizing proceedings would called a halt summary to refuse those tI ose few tew cadets who lIe was unable home and finally l y he be was expelled ran It t ou out out to his run shortly an after f 1820 1829 taking up Ul his abode from the post cliff near the tita rivers river's edge high at ut the tho base se of below a B West Point Here he lived In about abort a mile until his death In 1877 ot at thea the a small from frame house bouse burled buried In UnIon cemetery He De was ago ge of ninety Highland Falls and ort Fort between bout about midway road rand ad the West Point on utter after leaving West er rose to t C fame m u I Many men cn who r ff r rr r r f. f frN r t t l 7 4 fir J r dr w f Loo FA Point Grant Point Grant Fitzhugh Lee Sherman Custer Ouster and others spent others spent happy hours In Bennys Benny's retreat In 1838 Lucius OBrien O'Brien of the Eighth United States Infantry paid a n visit to Cadet Ripley A. A Arnold who was then a first classman Glassman Arnold Introduced OBrien O'Brien to Benny Denny Havens a warm friendship at nt once springing up between the two In the academy at nt this time were John Thomas Metcalfe who after graduation studied medicine and became one of the foremost surgeons in the country and Irvin McDowell who commanded commanded commanded com com- the Union forces at the first battle of Bull Run Both Metcalfe and McDowell were great friends of Benny Benny Havens Lieutenant OBrien O'Brien Metcalfe and Arnold together composed the original five verses of the song Benny Havens Oh I 1 and set It to the tune of The uThe Wearing of or th the Green Oreen An obituary notice of Doctor Metcalfe says He had hod an early taste for versifying and with skill at the guitar and a good tenor voice composed many a n ditty to pass away the idle time It was thus that he be wrote the celebrated song Benny Havens Oh I It is not what would be called good poetry Some of It t Is crude Today there are about 50 verses almost all of which were composed before Bennys Benny's death In 1877 1677 Class after class added a n verse In Inthe Inthe the waning years of ot Bennys Benny's life Ufe almost every night the cadets sang them through crowding round Benny with glasses full while their host led them with his fiddle and his low clear This fiddle by the way Is still in possession of ot anold anold an on old citizen of Highland Falls Come nil your glasses felloe fellows ce and stand up In a row To singing sentimentally Iy were we're going for tor to go In the army theres there's sobriety ty promotions promotion's very slow Blow So well we'll sing our reminiscences of Benny Havens Oh Soon came along the Mexican war to furnish Inspiration inspiration inspiration in In- to the cadet poets Several verses were added to the poem In commemoration of the deeds of those whose gallantry carried the AmerIcan Amer Amer- lean Ican flag from Vera Cruz to the heights of Chapultepee tepee tepec overlooking Montezuma's ancient c capital Two of these are ore Heres Here's a health to General Taylor whose whoso rough and ready blow Struck terror to the rancheros of braggart Mexico May his country neer ne'er forget torget his deeds and neer ne'er forget forget forget for for- get to show She holds him worthy of a place at at Benny Havens Havena Obi Oh ObiTo ObiTo i iTo To the veal vices man to Scott the greatest hero Fill FIJI the goblet to the brim let Jet no one shrinking go May lifes life's cares on his honored d head fall tall light as flakes bakes of snow And his fair fame be ever great at Benny Renny Havens Oh Ohl The civil war saw v stressful times at nt the Point an and the cadets turned their attention to sterner things than poetry The ranks of the corps were thinned by the loss of the Southerners who went home to take up the cause of their respective states Many of ot those from the North and South who had been friends of Benny fell on the field of ot glory glory Manassas Manassas Antietam Gettysburg the Wilderness and a hundred other places s were stained with the blood of ot West Pointers There Thero was little ga gayety ety at Bennys Benny's durIn during the stern four tour years for tor Benny nenny was getting old and the tho almost dally dolly news of the loss of ot his bis former friends on the tho battlefield robbed him of ot his old- old time lightheartedness Some of ot the verses of ot the poem which were wert wrItten written written writ wrIt- ten just after the war are lost There seems to tobe tobe tobe be only the following Intact To the army's a brave commanders commander let now our glasses gasses flow now h Well We'll drink to Grant and Sherman and to the subs also alsoTo To Thomas Meade and Sheridan these come In n apropos apropos apropos apro apro- pos Well We'll toast them all with goblets full at Benny Havens Havens Ha Ha- vens Ohl Early In ISM 1566 Gen Scott died For him this verse appeared Another star has faded we miss It Its brilliant glow For the veteran Scott has nas ceased to be a soldier here below And the country wh h he honored now feels a heartfelt heartfelt heartfelt heart heart- felt woe woeS As S we toast his name In reverence at Benny Havens Ohl Oh During the last Jast year of Bennys Benny's life Ufe came camo the stunning news that Custer and his men had fought their last fight James E E. Porter Harrington and others lieutenants and West Pointers all nIl perished with that gull gallant ant band Not until Benny had died did these verses appear In memory of Custer and his command In silence lift your glasses a meteor flashes out So swift to death brave Custer amid the battles battle's shout hout Death called called and and crowned he went to Join the friends of long agoTo agoTo ago To the land ot of of Pe Peace e where now be he dwells with Benny Havens Oh Ohl Well We'll drop a tear for Harrington and his comrades Custers Custer's braves Who fell feU with none nono to see the deeds that glorified their graves May their memory live forever with their glories present present present pres pres- ent glow They've nobly earned the right to dwell with Benny BennT Havens Oh Some of the other n verses are are fraught with th the magic spirit of West Point that PoInt that spirit that Is best summed up In the words Duty Honor Country West Vest Point Point which are ore part of the motto of the academy Nowadays s 's at West Point every cadet memorizes s the first three verses of Benny Ha Havens Oh I The first has already been given ghen the other two are ore as follows To our kind old Alma Mater our rock-bound rock Highland home May we wo cast back many a fond regret as 8 oer o'er lifes life's sea we roam Until o on our last battlefield the lights of heaven shall glow Well We'll never fall to drink to her and Benn Benny Havens luvena Oh Ohl May bray the a army y be augmented aU promotion be less slow May our country In the tho hour of need be ready for tor forthe forthe the foe toe May we find a soldiers soldier's resting reeling place beneath a soldiers soldier's sol soi- soi diers dier's blow With room enough enouch beside our graves graes for tor Benny Havens Havens Havens Ha Ha- vens Ohl Oh Wherever duty has hns led them West Pointers havo have sung Benny Havens Oh I 1 Since Bennys Benny's death these verses erses have appeared in commemoration of ot the deeds of West Pointers In all nU parts of ot this coun country try Their blood has hu watered Western plains and Northern wink winds of snow Has Una stained Sierras Sierra's highest peaks where piercing winds oer o'er blow Has dyed deep red the Everglades and deeper still lUll you know The sacred Montezuma shades and nd walls of Mexico From Nevadas Nevada's s hoary ridges from stormy coast cout of Maine From lava beds and Yellowstone Yellowstone the the story never waned Wherever duty called they went their wont their steps were never slow slow- WI With Oh Alma Mater on their lips and Benny Havens It Is the old old old story of West Vest Point and they who know It l well love lovo best to tell teU it It will never neve die it Is as firmly fixed In the highlands of the Hudson as QS t the J academy cadem I Itself l |