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[[Image:RootHogOrDieC1854.png|thumb|300px|right|Anonymous [[American Civil War|Pre-Civil War]] broadside titled ‘Root Hog or Die’.]]
””Root hog, or die”” is a common American catch-phrase dating from well before 1834.<ref>Crockett, ”A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett”, p. 117-118: ‘We know’d that nothing more could happen to us if we went than if we staid, for it looked like it was to be starvation any way; we therefore determined to go on the old saying, root hog or die.'</ref> Coming from the early colonial practice of turning pigs loose in the woods to fend for themselves, the term is an invective for self-reliance.

==Songs==
The term resulted in several songs with the same theme.

===’Root Hog Or Die’ (c. 1854)===
Several songs of unknown authorship were published before the Civil War, inclucing patriotic and minstrel songs. A patriotic version opens with:<ref>—, ‘Root Hog or Die’ (Broadside).</ref>
:”I’ll tell you a story that happened long ago,”
::”When the English came to America, I s’pose you all know,”
:”They could’nt whip the Yankees, I’ll tell you the reason why,’
::”Uncdle Same made ’em sing Root Hog or Die.”

===’Root Hog Or Die’ (1858)===
A song from the gold field camps on the front range of the Rockies was written by G.W.H. Griffin addressed the hardships of goldminers. The first verse:<ref>Davidson, ”Poems of the Old West”, pp. 16-17: ‘A.O. McGrew is reported to have presented the following at Denver’s first Christmas celebration, in 1858.'</ref>
:”Way out upon the Platte near Pike’s Peak we were told”
:”There by a little digging we could get a pile of gold,”
:”So we bundled up our clothing, resolved at least to try”
:”And tempt old Madam Fortune, root hog or die.”

===’A Philosophical Cowboy’===
A folk song collected in 1911 tells of the hard life of the cowboy. The last verse is:<ref>Fife & Fife, ”Cowboy and Western Songs”.</ref>
:”Sometimes it’s dreadful stormy and sometimes it’s pretty clear”
:”You may work a month and you might work a year”
:”But you can make a winning if you’ll come alive and try”
:”For the whole world over, boys, it’s root hog or die.”

This version, and variations of it, are still recorded.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*—. ‘Root Hog or Die’ (broadside). Philadelphia: J.H. Johnson (c. 1854).
*Crockett, David. ”A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee”. Philadelphia: E.L. Carey and A. Hart (1834).
*Davidson, Levette Jay. ”Poems of the Old West: A Rocky Mountain Anthology”. Manchester, NH: Ayer Company Publishers (Facsimile edition, 1951).
*Fife, Austin E., and Alta S. Fife. ”’Cowboy and Western Songs: A Comprehensive
Anthology.” New York: C. N. Potter (1969).

[[Category:English phrases]]
[[Category:American folk songs]]
[[Category:Western music]]

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