Tenting on the Old Camp Ground
First recording and first release by Geo J. Gaskin (May 18, 1896 / 1896)
- Written by
- Walter Kittredge
- Publication date
- 1864
- Composition date
- 1863
- Language
- English
- Comments
-
Civil War song. Kittredge of New Hampshire was a professional singer and wrote this song after receiving a draft notice in 1863. Due to a childhood medical illness, Kittredge was not actually inducted into the Union Army, although this song became very popular among Union Army enlisted men (it was also sung by Confederate soldiers).
Kittredge offered the song to the Boston publisher Oliver Ditson & Co. for $15.00, which initially rejected the work as too sad and sentimental. Asa Hutchinson, a member of The Hutchinson Family Singers and friend of Kittredge, was convinced that the song would be successful, and Hutchinson proved successful in getting Ditson & Co. to publish the work. Ditson agreed to pay a royalty of two-and-one-half cents for each copy of the song sold. Hutchinson and Kittredge split the royalties evenly and within two years, each man had made a thousand dollars in royalties. - Licensing
- Request a synchronization license