The Poor Soldier

The Poor Soldier is a 1783 British pasticcio opera with music by William Shield and a text by John O'Keeffe.

It was a comedy set around Irish soldiers returning home after fighting in the British army in the American War of Independence, which formally ended that year with the Peace of Paris.

[2] The Poor Soldier was an altered version, as an afterpiece, of the earlier The Shamrock, or The Anniversary of St Patrick, first performed as a comic opera on 16 April 1777 at Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, followed by a London performance on 7 April 1783 at Covent Garden.

[3] The work enjoyed widespread popularity in the newly independent United States, and was a favourite of George Washington.

In 1786, O'Keeffe wrote a sequel Love in a Camp, when the characters have joined the Prussian army.