It was written in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont at Simpson Tavern in Medford, Massachusetts. It was published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed that it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir for Thanksgiving, or as a drinking song. [censored] all these years I have NOT been drinking when I sang or heard it!! Well that stops now!!
George L. Purvis---- James Lord Pierpont was born on April 25, 1822, in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of 14, he ran off from boarding school, joined the crew of a whaling ship and spent nearly a decade at sea. When the California Gold Rush struck in 1849, Pierpont left his wife and children behind in Massachusetts while he chased riches in the West. In 1859, the Unitarian Church in Savannah closed because of its abolitionist position, which was unpopular in the South. By 1860, the Rev. John Pierpont, Jr. returned to the North. James, however, stayed in Savannah with his second wife Eliza Jane. At the beginning of the Civil War, in the summer of 1861, Pierpont enlisted as a private in the Lamar Rangers, a militia cavalry regiment from Lamar County. In September 1861 the Lamar Rangers became a Company of the 1st Georgia Cavalry Battalion and on September 1, Pierpont joined the regiment as a private. The 1st Georgia Battalion served on the Georgia coast from 1861 to 1863, guarding against Union attacks but not seeing much action. On January 20, 1863, the 1st Georgia Cavalry Battalion was merged to become the 5th Georgia Cavalry Regiment, and Pierpont mustered into Company H.[2][3] He served with the 5th Cavalry until April 1865, and fought at many battles in the Atlanta Campaign and the Campaign of the Carolinas. Records indicate that he served some time as a company clerk.[3] He also wrote music for the Confederacy, including "Our Battle Flag", "Strike for the South" and "We Conquer or Die".[2][3] His father saw military service in 1861 as a chaplain with the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry of the Union Army stationed in Washington, D.C., and later worked for the U.S. Treasury Department.[3] Pierpont and his father were thus on opposite sides during the Civil War.
