"Cleveland's March to the White House", also known as "Cleveland Marching to the White House" is an old-time march in G.
Grover Cleveland ran for the Presidency in the 1880's and was elected twice, in 1884 and 1892. The tune probably dates to the campaign of 1884 after Cleveland had been Sheriff of Erie County, New York, Mayor of Buffalo and Governor of New York.
The tune is fairly well known in the Blue Ridge Mountain area of western Virginia and North Carolina. It was in the repertoire of fiddler Emmett Lundy (b. 1864), from Grayson County, Virginia, who was recorded playing the tune in 1941 by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax for the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song. A version called "Piper's Gap" was played by banjo player Rob Tate (who lived between Piper's Gap and Fancy Gap, Carroll County, Virginia) in 1979.
It was also in the repertoire of old-time banjo player Bertie Dickens (1902–1994) of Ennice in Alleghany County, North Carolina. She played it in gEADE tuning, two-finger style. This banjo tab, in gDGBD tuning, is from Janet Burton and Ken Torke, amended by me to fit the fiddle version.
It was printed in Lamancusa's The Gettysburg Collection of Old-Time Fiddle Tunes (2021).
It was recorded by Roscoe Parish (Galax, Va.) on The Old-Time Way, James Bryan & Carl Jones on Cricket's Lullaby (2011), Rob Tate on Far in the Mountains, vols. 1 & 2 (2002) (Appears as "Piper's Gap"), Bertie Dickens on The North Carolina Banjo Collection (appears as "Cleveland's Marching to the White House") and Hart & Blech on Build Me a Boat (appears as "Cleveland Marching to the White House").