A short, repetitive chant built around the name of a real historical siege, prized more for its marching rhythm than for any history it teaches.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
At the siege of Belleisle
I was there all the while,
All the while, all the while,
At the siege of Belleisle.
About this rhyme
Confirmed: the Capture of Belle Île was a real British amphibious operation in 1761 during the Seven Years' War, and this rhyme's connection to that siege is documented in nursery rhyme collections including Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England. This is a genuine historical reference, not invented folklore.
This one borrows its subject from real history: the siege of Belle-Île, a French island stormed by British forces in a real eighteenth-century campaign. There's little reason to expect a child reciting it ever knew that. It is really just four short lines built around a place name and repeated, simple enough to pick up in one go.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition