Private John Dinkins, Co. C 18th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry described the march of Mc Law’s Division – including Kershaw’s South Carolina Brigade, of which the 2nd South Carolina regiment was one – towards the Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam of 1862. Dinkins recalled, “The men moved along at a lively gate. As night came on, we sang all kind of plantation songs, "Rock the Cradle, Julie," ‘Sallie, Get Your Hoecake Done,’ ‘I’m Going Down the Newburg Road’ and so on. The men …. moved along the road. The woods rang with their melodies.”

This song’s melody, the familiar “Soldier’s Joy,” has been traced to the mid-1700s. The tunes' upbeat tempo has lent itself to numerous lyrical adaptations. Even the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, wrote lyrics to the melody and included it as the opening song, in his 1785 cantata “The Jolly Beggars.”