The Battlefield Balladeers

View the Battlefield Balladeers Selma Living History VIDEO HERE.

Singing songs of the Civil War era, The Battlefield Balladeers bring their musical talents to the Battle of Selma Living History tours each year. Using a guitar, harmonica, tambourine and fiddle, they soon have the school children clapping right along with the melodies of Stephen Foster, Daniel Emmett and others.

This year, they sang "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," "Goober Peas" and "Old Dan Tucker." Often, the songs are introduced with humorous or historic quotes from Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Frederick Douglass and Mary Chestnut.

The Battlefield Balladeers are headquartered in Illinois and perform for Civil War reenactments, historic societies, libraries, museums and festivals. They have entertained at the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Ill., and the Chicago Historical Society.

The musicians belong to several historic preservation organizations including The 10th Illinois Vol. Infantry Reenactment Unit. Playing the fiddle at left is Andy Borg, and playing the guitar and harmonica at right is David Corbett.

The Balladeers were featured on ABC TV at a Presidents' Day celebration at the Chicago History Museum. To view the video, click HERE.