The Hunters of Kentucky "The Hunters of Kentucky", also called "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Half Horse and Half Alligator", is a song written to commemorate Andrew Jackson's victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans. In 1824 and 1828, he used it as his presidential campaign song.[1][2][3] Origin"Hunters on Kentucky" was originally published ca. 1815 in Boston and celebrated the courage of the Kentuckians who fought in the Battle of New Orleans.[4][5] One-fourth of Jackson's men at the Battle of New Orleans were from Kentucky.[6] It was sung the way Irish singers told stories in narrative form, and performed to the tune of Ally Croker and The Unfortunate Miss Bailey.[1] Written in 1821 by Samuel Woodworth, it was first sung in New Orleans in 1822 by Noah M. Ludlow. When Ludlow first performed the song, the audience was filled with boatmen who had floated down the Mississippi River from Kentucky; they refused to let him leave the stage until he sang it two more times.[1][7][8] The "half horse and half alligator" description was a common expression for boatmen like Mike Fink and other backwoodsmen of the period.[9][10] Use Throughout the term of Andrew Jackson, "Hunters of Kentucky" proved to be a popular song, and he used it for his 1824 and 1828 campaign. This is ironic as his "fieriest rival", Henry Clay, was the one from Kentucky; Jackson was from Tennessee, near Nashville.[1] Due to a copy of the song being depicted on the front cover of Davy Crockett's Almanack of Wild Sports in the West, it is thought that "Hunters of Kentucky" might have been sung during the Texas War of Independence, but this is speculation as no other evidence supports the song being sung during that conflict. Americans who entered Canada in 1837 and 1838 sang the song.[11] Effects"Hunters of Kentucky" propagated various beliefs about the war. One was that a Pennsylvania Rifle should be called a Kentucky Rifle. Another was that the riflemen won the Battle of New Orleans, when it could be said Jackson's artillery did. One stanza said the British planned to ransack New Orleans, which was unlikely.[12] LyricsYe gentlemen and ladies fair  We are a hardy, free-born race,  But Jackson he was wide awake, In popular cultureThis song was the closing number of the musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. References
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