History
Fiddler's Green
Where the Redlegs muster once the last fire mission is complete.
Fiddler's Green is the soldier's legend of a resting place for those who served on the gun line and in the saddle. As the story goes, it lies a short march this side of the hereafter — a shaded meadow with cool water and good company, where the cannoneers and troopers who have answered their final call gather to rest.
There the guns are silent, the horses are watered, and no bugle sounds a march. Old Redlegs swap stories around the fire, share a drink, and want for nothing. It is said that any Soldier who has done their duty well will find a welcome there among their own.
For the Field Artillery, Fiddler's Green is a way of honoring the memory of the fallen and of those who have gone before us — a reminder that the fellowship of the Redlegs does not end when the last round is fired.
The Cavalryman's Poem
The legend is preserved in a poem, “Fiddlers' Green,” first published in the U.S. Army's Cavalry Journal in 1923. By the cavalry's telling it belongs to the mounted arms alone — the verse marches the Infantry, the Engineers, and even the Artillery straight past to Hell, reserving the shade for troopers only. We Redlegs, who once served the guns from the saddle, choose to believe there's a canteen and a spot at the fire waiting for us too.
Halfway down the trail to Hell,
In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers' Green.Marching past, straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen.
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene.
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.