Hello,
The tune that I'm chosen has various names: Abe's Retreat, The Battle of Bull Run, Manassas Junction. The titles mark the defeat suffered by the Union Army in the first major land battle of the US Civil War, on July 21st 1861. I first encountered a version of the tune on Dwight Diller's great album Just Banjo 99, a version which makes it one of those lovely heavy minor-y modal tunes: there's a great Youtube video of Diller playing the tune on fiddle here; he seems to have learnt his version from Lee Hammons, judging from his reminiscences at the start of the vid. There's another slightly different strand of versions of the tune which make it more major-y and Celtic sounding to my ears, as illustrated by the fiddle playing of West Virginian fiddler Emory Bailey here and the fiddle playing of WV fiddler Wilson Douglas here.
The ever-informative Fiddler's Companion says this about the tune:
ABE'S RETREAT. AKA and see "The Battle of Bull Run," "Manassas Junction." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, W.Va. A Mixolydian. Standard, AEae or GDgd (Harvey Sampson) tunings. AABB. The alternate title makes it clear that the Abe referred to is Abraham Lincoln, who, as President, was Commander in Chief of the Union army which met a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bull Run (or, in the South, the Battle of 1st Manassas), Virginia, July 21st, 1861. The tune was in the repertoire of Wilson Douglas (1922-1999), a fiddler from Clay County, West Virginia. Another famous West Virginia fiddler, Burl Hammons, plays a similar tune, according to Bill Hicks (1975), and remembers a song connected with the tune having to do with Noah's Ark, with the refrain "forty days and forty nights." Sources for notated versions: collected in the 1950's from W.Va. fiddler Emory Bailey (Calhoun County, W.Va.) by Dr. Malvin Artley of Elon College, N.C., via the Red Clay Ramblers (N.C.) [Spandaro]; Paul Kotapish (Berkeley, CA, c. 1970's) [Songer]. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997, pg. 17. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 47. Appleseed Records, Cordelia’s Dad – “Spine” (1998). Augusta Heritage Recordings AHR-004C, Harvey Sampson and the Big Possum String Band – “Flat Foot in the Ashes” (1986/1994. Learned by Calhoun County, W.Va., fiddler Sampson from his father and brother Homer). Cassette C-7625, Wilson Douglas - "Back Porch Symphony." Wilson Douglas – “Fiddle Tunes from Central West Virginia.” Flying Fish 009, Red Clay Ramblers ‑ "Stolen Love" (1975). New Lost City Ramblers – “There Ain’t No Way Out.” Rafe Stefani – “Hell and Scissors” (based on Emory Bailey’s version). PearlMae Muisc 004-2, Jim Taylor – “The Civil War Collection” (1996).
There's a nice bunch of versions of the tune on Youtube, e.g. as played by Silasbanjo, Spinzorelli, Sorrythatusertaken, The Gilded Bats. And there's also a range of excellent recordings currently on the BHO Jukebox by blanham, mralston, Sid Barone, Vega$ Fairbanks, RWJones1970 (x2), Fretless in Texas and Vrteach, which I've put into a little Playlist.
Finally, here I am, bashing my way through a version last Saturday morning: