| Show 46 MX cadet 5 illy flav Z t M ha 0 the famous old ballad has been sung f or hearit y a century by the cadets of abe U n red 4 IL I 1 nip states militar y acad em y its bistor y makes good reading 4 well ne er fall to drink to her and benny havens ohl HO was benny havens ask the next west pointer you meet to tell you something about banny havens ile knows and you find that his eyes will kindle at the mention of the name says the new york sun west pointers for half a cen tury have told the story of benny havens they have bled and died with it on their lips r are arlly wherever duty called they went their steps were never ever slow with wit i alma mater on their lips ard benny havens oh benny havens oh I 1 Is the epic of west point it Is a story in song the story of west pointers and their sacrifices for duty honor west point and country this old academy of west I 1 laid out on a rugged shelf overlooking the majestic sweep of the hudson has many prized traditions unsullied in alienable but none more sacred to her sons than that of benny havens go to cullum memorial hill at west ivest point ind read in imperishable let of bronze the story of her sons bhe she has seen them march out of her sally ports singing benny havens ohi ohl and seen them brought back while minute guns were echoing among the granite hills that surround her the history of west point is closely Inter interwoven noven with that of our country west pointers have written bright pages in the annala annals of the land their blood has watered western plains and northern wilds of snow h s stained berra S erra a highest peaks where piercing v nind ind e er blow has dyed deep red the bier hier glades and de deeper aper still you know the sacred montezuma shades and walls ails of mexico wherever where reNer er duty has summoned them west I 1 ers have carr ed benny havens oh I 1 the story of benny havens la is almost as old as that of the academy itself many many years ago in 1824 to be precise I 1 enny havens took up his res anee d nee on the sout liun liIn border of what then constituted the post of west nest point almost im mediately he and the cadets became fri friends ends he ile NN was as a genial soul generous and of good corn com pany and an inimitable spinner of barns arns and he invariably plied his visitors with buckwheat cakes and maple soon his refreshments acquired such fame that cadets often slipped away amay from their duties and made their way to benn benny y s retreat where they found oblivion tor for their disciplinary woes almost every night after taps saw half a dozen daring cadets who should have b been em e in bed gathered around benny s bountiful table I 1 only for a short time did benny s fare confine itself to buckwheat cakes and maple grog and wine were added to the menu an addition whereby benny beany s popularity increased t tenfold e about this time the west I 1 authorities who had previously shut their eyes to be benny any s liberal liberali ties decided that the time had come to declare leclare a it blockade on f benny in so far as cadets were con berned and consequently benny s haven of delight became off limits tor for the future generals and punishment was meted out by those caught run ning sling the blockade bloc kide jefferson davis afterward president of the confederate states had the dis unction of being among the first batch of cadets court marti aled for midnight revels at benny havens benny was warned that his generosity to cadets was demoralizing to discipline and that unless ne called a halt summary proceedings would result he was unable to refuse those few cadets who ran it out to his home and finally he was expelled from the post shortly after 1829 taking up his abode at the base of a high cliff near the rivers age about a mile below west point here he lived in a small frame house until his death in 1877 at the age of ninety he was burled buried in union cemetery about midway between highland falls ralls and tort fort montgomery on the west point road many men who rose to tame fame utter after leaving west wes t point grant fitzhugh lee bherman sherman ouster custer and others spent happy hours in benny s retreat in 1838 luclus lucius 0 brien of the eighth united states infantry paid a visit to cadet ripley A arnold who mho was then a first classman arnold introduced 0 brien to benny havens a warm friendship at once springing up between the two in the academy at this time were john thomas metcalfe Metca ife who after graduation studied medicine and became one of the foremost surgeons in the country and irvin mcdowell who corn com banded the union forces at the first battle of bull bun run both metcalfe Metca ife and mcdowell were great friends of benny benny havens lieutenant 0 brien metcalfe Metca ife and arnold together composed the original five verses of the song benny havens oh I 1 and set it to the tune of the wearing of tl if e green an obituary notice of doctor metcalfe Metca ife says he had an early taste for and with mith skill at the guitar and a good tenor voice composed many a ditty to pass away the idle time it was thus that he wrote the celebrated song benny havens oh ohl I 1 it Is not w m hat would be called good poetry isome some of it Is crude today there are about 50 verses almost all of vi which aich were composed before benny s death in 1877 class after class added a verse in the waning years of benny s file lire almost every night the cadets sang them through crowding round benny with rith glasses full while their host led them with his fiddle and his low clear this fiddle by the way Is still in possession of an old citizen of highland falls ralls come fill your glasses fellows follows and stand up in a row to singing sentiments senti mentally we re going for to go in the army there s s sobriety biety pron 0 fotion t ion a very slow so we 11 sing our reminiscences of benny havens oh soon came along the mexican war mar to furnish in to the cadet poets several verses were added to the poem in commemoration of the deeds of those whose gallantry carried the amer lean ican flag from vera cruz to the heights of chagul tepee wier overlooking looking montezuma Monte s ancient capital two of these are here s a health to general taylor whose rough and reada blow struck terror to the rancheros ranche roa of braggart mexico may his country ne er or forget hia his deeds and ne er for get to show she holds him worthy of a place at benny havens oh ohl to the veni vent vidi vacti man to scott the greatest hero her fill the goblet to the brim let no one shrinking go may life s cares on his honored head fall light as flakes of snow and his air tame fame be ever great at benny havens oh the civil war mar saw stressful times at the point and the cadets turned their attention to sterner things man poetry the ranks of the corps were thinned by the loss of the southerners bouth erners who mho men went t home to take up the cause of their respective states many of those from the north and bouth south who had been friends of benny fell on the field of glory manassas antietam Antle tam gettysburg the wilderness and a hundred other places were stained with the blood of west poin ers there mas little gayety at benny s during the stera stern four years for benny was vms getting old and the almost dally daily news of the loss of his f V friends on the battlefield robbed him of his old time lightheartedness of the poem which were arit ten just after the war mar are lost there seems to be only the following intact r to the army a brave commanders commander let now our glasses flow awl ato we 11 drink to grant and sherman and to the subs also to thomas meade and sheridan these come in apro pos well we 11 toast them all with goblets full at benny ha vens oh early in 1866 gen winfield scott died for biris this verse appeared another star has faded we miss its brilliant glow for the veteran scott has ceased to be a soldier be here re below and the country which he honored now feels a heart felt woe As we re toast bis his name in reverence at benny denny havens oh during the last year of benny s life camo came the fi news that ouster custer and his men had fought their I 1 last ast fight james E porter harrington and others lieutenants and west pointers all perished with that gallant band not until benny had died did these verses appear in memory of ouster custer and his command in silence lift your glasses a meteor flashes out so swift to death brave custer amid the battle battles s shout death called calle dand and crowned he went to join the friends of long ago to the land of pea e where now he dwells with benny havens oh wall we 11 drop a tear tor for harrington and his comrades custer a braves who tell fell with none to see the deeds that glorified their graves may their men ory live forever with their glories pres ent glow they ve nobly earned the right to dwell with benny havens oh some of the other verses are fraught with the magic spirit of west point that spirit that Is best summed up in the words duty honor country west point which are part of the mott of the academy nowadays at west point every cadet memorizes the first three verses of benny havens oh I 1 the first has already been given the other two are as follows to our kind old alma mater our rock bound highland home may we cast back many a fond regret as 0 er life s sea we roam until nill on our last battlefield the lights of heaven shall gl glow 0 w we ll 11 n never e ver tail fall to drink to her and benny denny havens oh ohl may the array arm be augmented promotion be leas less slow may our country in the hour of need be ready for the toe foe may we find a soldier soldiers s resting place beneath a sol dier diers a blow with room enough beside our graves for benny ha vens oh wherever duty has led them west pointers have sung benny havens oh ohl I 1 since benny s death these verses have appeared in commemoration ot of the deeds of west pointers in all parts of this country their blood has watered western plains and northern wins of snow has as stained sierra a highest peaks where piercing winds e er or blow has dyed deep red the everglades glades and deeper still you know tie tl e 8 sacred L cred montezuma shades and walls of mexico from N nevada s hoary ridges from stormy coast of maine from lava beds and yellowstone the story never waned wherever duty called they went vent their steps were never slow with alma mater on their lips and benny havens oh ohl it is the old old story of west point and chev who know v it NN well ell love best to tell it it will neve die it Is as firmly fixed in the highlands of the hudson as the academy itself T w |
