Here's your mule or Where's my mule? (Mister, here's your mule or Mister, where's my mule?) was a Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 catch phrase during the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, often noted in Civil War histories. It resulted in several Civil War songs, including "Here's Your Mule", "How Are You? John Morgan", and "Turchin's Got Your Mule". It is also credited with contributing to General Bragg

Braxton Bragg

Braxton Bragg was a career United States Army officer, and then a general in the Confederate States Army—a principal commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and later the military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.Bragg, a native of North Carolina, was...

's failure to rally his troops at Missionary Ridge.

Origins

Several differing accounts of the origin of the phrase are given. The most common involves soldiers in a camp taking a clever peddler

Peddler

A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...

's unattended mule and hiding it. When the peddler discovers the mule missing, he goes around the camp inquiring about it. After a while, a soldier would holler "Mister, here's your mule." When the peddler went toward the call, a soldier in another part of the camp would yell the same, "Mister, here's your mule." This continued, taking the peddler all over the camp. Variation of the story supposedly took place at the Camp of Instruction in Jackson, Tennessee

Jackson, Tennessee

Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...

, Beauregard

P. G. T. Beauregard

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a Louisiana-born American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used...

's camp at Centreville, Virginia

Centreville, Virginia

Centreville is an unincorporated community in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as a Census Designated Place , the community population was 71,135 as of the 2010 census and is approximately west of Washington, DC.-Colonial Period:Beginning in the 1760s,...

, and others.

"Here's Your Mule"

"Here's Your Mule" was written by C.D Benson and published in 1862, both by himself in Nashville, Tennessee, and by John Church, Jr. in Cincinnati. The song tells one of the traditional stories about soldiers hiding a farmer's mule and yelling "Mister, here's your mule" drawing him from place to place endlessly. The chorus is:

Come on, come on, Come on, old man,

And don't be made a fool,

By ev'ry one, You meet in camp,

With "Mister, Here's your mule."

Following John Morgan's 1863 raid

Morgan's Raid

Morgan's Raid was a highly publicized incursion by Confederate cavalry into the Northern states of Indiana and Ohio during the American Civil War. The raid took place from June 11–July 26, 1863, and is named for the commander of the Confederates, Brig. Gen...

, sheet music destined for the Southern market had a chorus pasted in immediately after the final verse:

Come on, come on, come on, old man,

And don't be made a fool;

I'll tell you the truth as best I can:

"John Morgan's got your Mule!"

"Turchin's Got Your Mule"

The Union parodied the song in 1863 with "Turchin's Got Your Mule", an account of John B. Turchin's 1862 foray into Alabama where his soldiers seized Southern goods and property. The song, perhaps written by a cavalryman with the First Ohio, tells of a plantation owner trying to retrieve his slaves and livestock. The first verse and chorus are:

A planter came to camp one day,

His niggers for to find;

His mules had also gone astray,

And stock of every kind.

The planter tried to get them back,

And then was made a fool,

For every one he met in camp

Cried, "Mister, here's your mule."

Chorus

Go back, go back, go back, old scamp,

And don't be made a fool;

Your niggers they are all in camp,

And Turchin's got your mule.

"How Are You? John Morgan"

C. D. Benson came out with ""How Are You? John Morgan" in 1864 after John Hunt Morgan

John Hunt Morgan

John Hunt Morgan was a Confederate general and cavalry officer in the American Civil War.Morgan is best known for Morgan's Raid when, in 1863, he and his men rode over 1,000 miles covering a region from Tennessee, up through Kentucky, into Indiana and on to southern Ohio...

  escaped from the Ohio Penitentiary in 1863. The chorus is:

Then raise the shout, the glorious shout,

John Morgan's caught at last,

Proclaim it loud, the land throughout,

He's in to prison fast.

Chorus to last verse:

Upon his Mule, He's gone they say

To Dixie's Promised Land,

And at no very distant day

To lead a new command.

"Here's Your Mule" ("My Maryland"/"O Tannenbaum")

A common Confederate version of unknown authorship was sung to the tune of "My Maryland

Maryland, My Maryland

"Maryland, My Maryland" is the official state song of the U.S. state of Maryland. The song is set to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius" and the lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by James Ryder Randall...

". One stanza of this version is:

Hark! Morgan's boys are on a raid,

Here's your Mule, O here's your mule!

To meet the foe they're not afraid,

Here's your Mule, O here's your mule!

And when bluecoats, see them come,

They stop and fire and break and run,

And then begins John Morgan's fun,

Here's your Mule, O here's your mule!

Another variant of "Here's Your Mule" using the tune to "My Maryland" ("O Tannenbaum

O Tannenbaum

"O Tannenbaum", or, in its English version, "O Christmas Tree", is a Christmas carol of German origin.A Tannenbaum is a fir tree or Christmas tree...

"), also of unknown authorship, was published in Nashville's Daily Union, July 14, 1863. The opening verses is:

Come Soldiers, listen to my lay

Here's your mule, your long eared mule

I'll sing the warriors of the day,

Here's your mule, &c.

Old General Bragg, he leads the way,

And moves his army twice a day,

And once at night, I've heard them say

Here's your mule, your long eared mule.