"Garryowen", also known as "Garyowen", "Garry Owen" and "Gary Owens", is an Irish tune for a jig dance. It was selected as a marching tune for Australian, British, Canadian, and American military formations, including General George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment and Australia's 2 Cav Regiment. History The word garryowen is derived from Irish, the proper name Eóin and the word for garden garrai – thus "Eóin's Garden". A church dating to the 12th century by the Knights Templar, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is the source of the modern area of Garryowen in the city of Limerick, Ireland. Owen's Garden, overlooking the River Shannon was a fashionable retreat and recreational area for the citizens of Limerick. The song emerged during the late 18th century, when it was a drinking song of rich young roisterers in Limerick. An alternate title is "Let Bacchus' sons be not dismayed". Sung to the tune "Auld Bessie", it obtained immediate popularity in the British Army through the 5th (or Royal Irish) Regiment of Dragoons. It was published with additional lyrics in Thomas Moore's 1808 "Irish Melodies". Beethoven composed two arrangements of the song during 1809–1810 (published 1814–1816 in W.o.O. 152 and W.o.O. 154) with the title, "From Garyone My Happy Home", with lyrics by T. Toms, on romantic themes. The arrangements were part of a large project by George Thomson to engage prominent composers of his time to write arrangements of the folk songs of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The composer Mauro Giuliani arranged the tune in Arie Nazionali Irlandesi nr.1-6 Op.125 (Six Irish Airs). The Bohemian composer Ignaz Moscheles (1794 – 1870) included the tune in his op. 89 Souvenirs de l'Irlande, "Recollections of Ireland", for solo piano and orchestra. British military units A very early reference to the tune appears in the publication The Life of the Duke of Wellington by Jocquim Hayward Stocqueler, published during 1853. He describes the defence of the town of Tarifa during the Peninsular War, late December 1811. General H. Gough, later Field Marshal Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough, commanding officer of the 87th Regiment (Later the Royal Irish Fusiliers), under attack by French Grenadiers, drew his sword, tossed his scabbard, and called on his men to stand with him until the enemy should walk over their bodies. The troops responded with the "Garryowen". It was used as a march by the 88th Regiment of Foot