Meeting someday at Fiddler’s Green

The Poplar Bluff Museum tells many unknown tales of our community. I want to tell you some of those hidden tales found within the museum walls.

“Halfway down the road to hell,

In a shady meadow green,

Are the souls of all dead troopers camped

Near a good old-time canteen.

And this eternal resting place

Is known as Fiddler’s Green.”

The United States Cavalry still rides. They are out front of the modern U.S. Army in tanks and helicopters scouting a trail to victory. Every cavalry post has a field called Fiddler’s Green. There the troopers assemble once a month wearing their traditional cavalry hats, boots and spurs. The song “Gary Owen” is played, originally sung by Custer’s 7th Cavalry. Sometimes a ghostly “Old Bill” arrives on horseback with his saber drawn.

“Marching past, straight through to hell,

The infantry are seen,

Accompanied by the Engineers,

Artillery and Marine,

For none but the shades of Cavalrymen

Dismount at Fiddler’s Green.

“Though some go curving down the trail

To seek a warmer scene,

No trooper ever gets to hell

Ere he’s emptied his canteen,

And so rides back to drink again

With friends at Fiddler’s Green.”

Specialist Zeke Gibbons from Poplar Bluff enlisted in the Army in 2010. He quickly found himself in combat in the mountains of Afghanistan as a cavalry scout. They called it “Indian Country.” His unit conducted search and destroy raids from helicopters and armored vehicles. They supported numerous units in the Sha Wali Kot region, including the Special Forces. After being wounded, this trooper came home. His comrades on Fiddler’s Green will have to wait for now.

“And so when man and horse go down

Beneath a saber keen,

Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee

You stop a bullet clean,

And the hostiles come to get your scalp,

Just empty your canteen,

And put your pistol to your head

And go to Fiddler’s Green.”

We are honored to display Trooper Gibbons’ cavalry hat and the coveted golden spurs (awarded in combat) in the Global War on Terror exhibit of the Kanell Hall Veterans Museum.

The museum is handicap accessible and open free of charge Sunday 1-4 at 1010 Main Street. Tell them Mike sent you.

Mike Shane is a veteran and also a cavalry trooper. He looks forward to sharing a canteen with Trooper Gibbons on Fiddler’s Green and singing “Gary Owen.” He is also a Poplar Bluff resident and board member of the Poplar Bluff Museum.