After reading Elizabeth Custer's book as she described how music was used so often in her life with him and thinking of all the movies I've seen about the cavalry going into battle with music, I began to look for some of the music for my own inspiration.
She talked of
Garryowen where General Custer (what she always called him though his rank had been lowered after the end of the Civil War as it was with all the officers) often used it as he and his men would ride in or out. It was the official song of the Seventh Cavalry.
Where I thought it was romanticized for the films, it wasn't. I read that Custer liked it especially for how it worked with the cadence of the horse. Irish drinking song or not, it has a lot of emotion and you can see how you'd find your energies rising with it if you had to ride into a dangerous situation.
And then there is this one which I have always liked. Romantic and again would seem something that would inspire as the men went on a long march or ride.
When you write, want the feel of a period in history or an emotional truth, music often is the key.
