| Show ell s 1 M 10 M M er a int WW I 1 have 39 ap malmo N IN r S the famous bild ballad has been sung a century aa by the cabets cadets of abe states military academe y its makes good 7 4 well never fail to drink to her and benny havens ohl HO was benny havens ask the next west pointer you meet to tell you something about benny w I 1 havens he knows and jq find that hise jes will kindle at the mention of thenamae 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 wherever duty called they went their steps were never slow with alma mater on their ups lips and benny iia havens v ens ohl oh benny havens ohl oh 1 is the epic of we westpoint ait point it Is a story in song the story of west WeA Pointers Poin tera and their sacrifices for duty honor west point and country y this old academy of west point laid out ona 11 a rugged shelf overlooking the majestic sweep of the hudson has many prized traditions unsullied inalienable but none more sacred to her sons than that of benny havens go to cull cullum um memorial hull hall at west point and read in imperishable letters of bronze the story of her sons she has hai seen them march out of her sally ports singing benny havens oh obi I 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 written bright pages in the annals 0 of f the land their blood has watered western plains and northern wilds of ano snow w has stained d sierras highest peaks where piercing wind eer blow has dyed deep rew red the and deeper still you know the sacred montezuma Monte zurna shades and walls ot of Al mexico exico wherever duty has summoned them west foint ers have carried benny havens ohl the story of benny havens la Is almost as old as th that t of the tic academy ademy itself many many years ago in 1824 to bo be precise benny havens took up his residence on the southern border of what then constituted the post of west point almost immediately he and the cadets cabets became friends lie he was a genial soul generous and of good company and un an inimitable spinner of yarns and he invariably plied his visitors with buckwheat cakes and maple soon his refreshments acquired u red such fame that cadets cabets often I 1 slipped awai away from their duties and made thear wil way y to bennys bennas retreat where they found oblivion for their disciplinary 1 woes boes almost every night after taps saw half a dozen daring cadets cabets who should have been in bed bd gathered around bennys bennas bountiful table only for a short time did bennys bennas fare confine itself to buckwheat cakes and maple grog and wine were added to the menu nn an addition aher whereby eby bennys bennas popularity increased tenfold about tills this time the west point authorities who i had previously shut their eyes to Ben bennas bennys fiji liberali libera ll 11 ties decided that the time had come to declare a block blockade ade on oil benny inso far as cadetis cadets were concerned and consequently bennas bennys haven of delight became oft off limits for the future generals and punishment was meted out oui by those cal caught tight I 1 run nind the blockade jefferson dails afterward president preside ut of the confederate states liga lh distinction or of being among the first batch of of cabets cadets court for midnight revels nt at benny havens benny was warned that his generosity to cabets cadets was demoralizing to discipline and that unless he called a halt summary proceedings would result ile he was unable to refuse those few cadets cabets who r ran an it outly out to his home and finally he wais was expelled from the post shortly after 1829 taking up his abode at the base of a high cliff near the rivers edge about a mile below west point here he lived in a small imme frame house bouse until his death in 1877 at the a age g e of ninety 11 he was buried in union cemetery a about midway between Il highland Ighland valid falls and nd fort montgomery on the west point road many men who rose to fame after leaving west point grant fitzhugh lee sherman ouster custer and others spent happy hours in bear Is s retreat in 1838 luclus lucius obrien of the eighth united states infantry paid a visit to cadet ripley A arnold who was then a first classman arnold introduced obrien to benny havens a warrn warm friendship at once springing up between the two in the academy at this time were john thomas metcalfe who after graduation studied medicine and became one of the foremost surgeons in the country and irvin mcdowell McDowe II who commanded the union forces at the first battle of bull run both metcalfe and mcdowell McDowe II were great friends of benny benny havens lieutenant obrien len Met colte and arnold together composed tile the original five verses t of the song benny havens oh ohl I 1 and set it to the tune of f the wearing of the green an obituary ry notice of doctor metcalfe says ile he had an parly early taste for versifying versify ing and with skill at the guitar find and a good tenor voice composed many mank a ditty to pass away the idle time it was thus that lie he wrote the celebrated song benny havens ohl oh I 1 it ignot Is not what would be called good poetry some of it Is crude today there are about 60 00 verses almost all of which were composed before bennys bennas death In 1877 class after class added a verse in the waning years ears of bennys bennas life ife almost every night the cadets cabets 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 an old citizen of highland liland falls come flit fill your glasses fellows and stand up in a row to singing sentimentally were going for to go eo in the army theres sobriety sob lety promotions very slow so well sing our reminiscences of benny havens ohi oh I 1 soon came along the mexican wai war to furnish inspiration to the cadet poets si several e veral verses were added to the poem in commemoration of the deeds of those whose gallantry carried the american flag from vern vera cruz 0 io o the heights of tepee overlooking Monte montezuma ancient caf capital pItal two of these are heres a health to general taylor whose rough and ready blow struck terror to the rancheria rancheros ranche ran cheros roa of braggart mexico may his country neer forget his deeds and neer forget to show she holds him worthy of a place at benny havens oh to the veni eidl man to scott the greatest hero bero fill the goblet to thi the brim let no one shrinking shrin kling go may alay lifes cares arre on hla his honored hono redhead head fall light as hakes flakes of f snow and AS his air farne fame be ever great at benny havens oh th the civil w war arsaw saw stress stressful ful times at the boint alid iche the babets cadets turned turne their attention to sterner things than poetry the ranks of the corps co aps were vere thinned by the loss of the southerners 10 who lo went home to take up the cause of their respective states many of those from the north and south who had bad beert been friends of benny fell on the field alpy doiy mau ansas assas antietam Antle tam gettysburg the wilderness WI diess and a hundred other places were stained with the blood of f west pointers there was little gayety gaiety at bennys bennas during the stern four years for benny was getting old and the almost dally daily news of the loss of ills his former friends on the battlefield robbed hirn him of his old time lightheartedness some of the verses of the poem which were wera written just after tho the war are lost there seems to be only the following intact P s to the armax brave commanders lot let now our glasses cow well drink to grant and sherman find and to the rubw sub also to thomas meade and sheridan these come la in apro well We pot toast them all with goblets full at benny havens ohl early in 1860 gen winfield scott died for him this verse erse appeared I 1 another star has faded we miss its brilliant glow for the veteran scott has ceased to be a soldier here below and the country which he honored now feels a heartfelt woo woe As we toast his name in reverence at benny havens ohl oh I 1 during the last year of bennys bennas life came the Etu stunning nning news that ouster custer and his men inen had fought their last fight james B 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 custer r andt and his command in silence lift your glasses a meteor flashes out so swift to death brave custer amid the battles battle shout death called calle d and crowned he went to join the friends tenda tr of long ago to the land of peace where now he dwells with benny havens ohl oh well drop a tear tor for harrington and tits his comrades custers braves who fell with none to see the deeds that glorified their graves may their memory llva live forever with their glories present glow nobly earned the right to dwell with benny havens ohl oh some of the other verses erses are fraught with the magic of west point that spirit that is best summed up in the words duty honor country west point which are part of the motto of the academy nowadays at west point every cadet memorizes the first three verses of benny havens oli oh I 1 the first hits has already been given the other two areas are as follows to our kind old alma mater our rockbound rock bound Il highland ighland home may we cast back many a fond regret as oer lifes sea we roam r 0 am until tl on our t last ast battlefield the lights of heaven shall gl glow 0 w well never tall fall to drink to her and benny havens ohl oh may the army be augmented promotion be less slow may alay our country in the hour of need be ready tor for the foe way may we find a soldiers resting place beneath a sol eol dier adlers a b blow 0 w with room enough beside our grayes graves for benny ila ha vens tens nhi wherever duty has led them west pointers have sung sting benny havens oli ohl V since bennys bennas death these verses have appeared in commemoration of the deeds of west pointers lu in all parts of this country their blood has watered western plains and northern jinja of snow has stained sierras highest pa iss where piercing winds eer e er blow has s dyed dyad deep red the everglades LIver glades and deeper still you know the sacred montezuma shades and walls of mexico nom nevadas nevada B hoary ridges from stormy coast of maine from drom lava beds and tell the story never waned wherever duty called they went their steps were never slow with alma mater on their lips and benny havens ohl it Is the old old story of west point and they w who liok 1 ow it well love best to tell il it it will nevelt die it 11 is as firmly fixed in the highlands of tho the hudson as the academy itself 0 |
