“Yankee Doodle” was a well-known song in the New England colonies before the battles of Lexington and Concord, but only after the skirmishes there was it appropriated by the American militia.

Tradition holds that the colonials began to sing the tune as they forced the British back to Boston on April 19, 1775.

By 1777, “Yankee Doodle” had become an unofficial American anthem. After the Revolutionary War, “Yankee Doodle” surfaced in stage plays, classical music, and opera.

You can listen to a few versions of this song here at the Recorded Sound Archives website:

https://rsa.fau.edu/album/12135

https://rsa.fau.edu/album/47376

https://rsa.fau.edu/album/12027

If you’d like to learn more about the history of Yankee Doodle visit the Library of Congress website.