From the first colonial chanteyman to recent “American Idol” finalist Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Josh Gracin, members of our armed forces have loved to sing. But many Americans don’t know about the contributions military minstrels have made to music in the United States. Here is a hit parade of songs by composers and singers whose duty to our country included creating a popular song.

The Song Our Forefathers Hated

Everyone knew and sang the tune. Then Richard Shuckburgh wrote a ridicule of the Connecticut militia to it, and his version became the most popular—and most despised—in the 13 colonies. British troops sang the “Yankey Song” on march, off duty, and outside churches; they literally sang the colonists into rebellion. Yet this mockery of our armed forces became our first national hit.

On April 19, 1775, Lord Hugh Percy led 900 soldiers from Boston to Concord, Mass., to punish the insurrectionists, seize ammunition stores, and apprehend rebel leaders. An earlier expedition frantically retreated into their ranks, fleeing colonial sharpshooters. Percy battled his way back to Boston one bloody mile at a time. Ecstatic with success, the American soldiers “captured” the Shuckburgh ditty and sang it as their anthem of victory. Historian Stuart Murray notes, “The ‘Yankey Song’ soon would have new words and a new name: ‘Yankee Doodle,’ America’s song of triumph.”

America’s song generated “Yankee Doodle in Mexico,” “Yankee Doodle for Lincoln,” and George M. Cohan’s smash adaptation, “Yankee Doodle Boy,” with melodic appearances in everything from Anton Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” to Dave Brubeck’s “They All Sang Yankee Doodle.”

The Negotiator’s Anthem

During the War of 1812, an attorney asked President Madison’s permission to intervene on behalf of his imprisoned friend Dr. William Beanes. With letters in hand, the lawyer boarded the British ship Surprise and began negotiations for the physician’s release. Suddenly, the English fleet attacked Baltimore, and the captain insisted all Americans remain on board during the battle. The negotiator paced the deck watching the bombs bursting in air, but by dawn’s early light, he saw a star-spangled banner waving over Fort McHenry.

Did Francis Scott Key scribble our national anthem on the back of a letter or keep the verses in his head until released? No matter—one fact is clear: According to a letter by Chief Justice Roger Taney, Key “was a Volunteer in the Light Artillery, commanded by Major Peter ... employed in active service.” Another American soldier hit!

Whitney Houston’s “The Star Spangled Banner,” sung at Super Bowl XXV at the height of Desert Storm, registered such acclaim she released it for charity; the single reached gold in April 1991. A reissue after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack rose to No. 6 on the U.S. Hot 100 Singles charts.

The Eighth of January

Gen. Andrew Jackson and his army waited for the British in New Orleans behind a barricade of cotton bales and sugar barrels. On Jan. 8, 1815, the redcoats invaded and suffered 2,000 casualties to the Americans’ 22. This victory swept Jackson into the White House. In Songs of Independence (Stackpole Books, 1973), Irwin Silber reports that “an anonymous soldier bard” took down the particulars of the Battle of New Orleans and turned it into the folk favorite, “The Eighth of January.”

In 1936, high school history teacher Jimmy Driftwood reached back to “The Eighth of January” and updated the verses to teach his students. Country music vocalist Johnny Horton recorded Driftwood’s lesson plan, and “The Battle of New Orleans” topped the country and pop charts in 1959.

Brothers Hymn to Battle Hymn

William Steffe’s “O Brothers Will You Meet Me On Canaan’s Farther Shore?” might have disappeared in the smoke of the Civil War, but a Massachusetts infantry company rescued the tune to compose a tribute to their fallen leader Sgt. John Brown. The Union army sang “John Brown’s Body” across the country, praising the abolitionist hero who led a slavery revolt at Harper’s Ferry, W.Va. The march moved Julia Ward Howe to write fresh lyrics, and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” became our nation’s patriotic psalm.

“The Battle Hymn” always has been singable, but the Mormon Tabernacle Choir proved it salable as well. Its 1959 Grammy-winning version made it to No. 2 on the “Hit Parade.”

Marching Home

Union bandmaster Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore wrote “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” in time for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender and a rousing return home for the troops. After the war, Gilmore’s “Peace Jubilees” included “Johnny” with as many as 1,000 musicians accompanying 10,000 singers and climaxed his songs with the firing of real cannon. “Though written and popularized during the Civil War,” writes music historian David Ewen, “this song achieved its greatest success during the Spanish-American War, with which it is now identified.”

After enlisting in 1942, Maj. Glenn Miller and the Army Air Force Band released “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” along with other hits. English pop star Adam Faith took it to No. 5 on the U.K. charts in 1960.

The Private’s Musical

A Broadway composer applied for service in 1917 and ended up at Camp Upton, N.Y. Gen. J. Franklin Bell called the recruit into his office, told him he needed $35,000 for a service center, and asked him to write and stage an Army show to raise the funds. The enlistee wrote the entire score based upon his experiences in boot camp. “Yip Yip Yaphank” opened July 26, 1918, and the private, pulling $40 a month, delivered the general a check for $80,000. The induction of Irving Berlin gave the armed forces its most prolific songwriter with two “hitch” tunes: “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” and “God Bless America.”

No one heard “God Bless America” during World War I. Berlin shelved it until Kate Smith’s 1938 Armistice Day program—when sheet music sales exploded. “That song got America through World War II,” says Dr. Carole Delaney, a music professor at California State University, Sacramento. “It was the standard-bearer Americans leaned upon for emotional support.” “God Bless America” renewed its popularity when Congress sang it on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

“God Bless America” never charted, but it still rings out.