Songs of the Civil War

From an era when dancing was a major form of courtship, communication, entertainment, and expression; many songs were born. Whether preformed on the city stage, or sung on the family farm, music played a vital role in Victorian ear lifestyles. It's estimated civilians and soldiers created more than two thousand war related tunes and untold sets of lyrics. Songs about love, loss, combat, food, gambling, sex, prison, bugs, marching, and taxes. This month we will look at the ten most prominent songs of the war. Their selection is based on estimated sheet music sales, consistent appearance in personal and newspaper articles, and their popularity among the military bands of the time.

1. "Dixie" Penned by Ohio born Unionist Dan Emmet "Dixie" first appeared as a minstrel show closer in 1859. The original lyrics appear to be a freeman mocking a feigned desire to return to the south. "Dar's buck-wheat cakes and Ingen' batter, Makes you fat, or a little fater, Look Away... Den hoe it down and scratch your grabble. To Dixie's land I'm bound to trabble..." It quickly became a prewar hit in Dixie. Brass bands played it at the inauguration of Jefferson Davis. Young men sang it on their way to volunteer for the South. In the North, the light and lively "Dixie" brought a sense of foreboding. Robert Lincoln reported hearing it hummed and whispered inside the White House during his father's term in office. It wasn't until April 10, 1865 that President Lincoln requested a nearby band to play a minstrel tune he first heard in Illinois, adding the song was "a lawful prize," considering that the Union had "fairly captured it."     Not only was "Dixie's" creator Daniel Emmet from the North, he was also an ardent Unionist, and he found the song's popularity in the Confederacy to be repulsive.

2. "John Brown's Body" ("Battle Hymn of the Republic") In late 1861 42year old poet and abolitionist Julia Ward Howe was in Washington when she heard a column of soldiers singing "John Brown's Body" a lyrical parody of an old revival tune. That night, while unable to sleep, Howe wrote out a new set of versus turning the jocular piece into a vengeful ballad. After being published in Atlantic Monthly in February of 1862, "Battle Hymn of the Republic" went on to become almost immortal as Northern civilians embraced the ballad as their claim to the moral high ground. The troops in blue still preferred the old "John Brown's Body lies a-mouldering in the grave" version and could most often be heard singing it on the march and in camp.      President Theodore Roosevelt, among others, expressed the desire to have "Battle Hymn of the Republic" become the national anthem of the United States. In 1931, Congress ultimately chose a poem from another, less divisive war.

3. "Home Sweet Home" Many songs of home were penned during the war. Both songs talking of soldiers wish to return home as well as those at home waiting for their loved ones return. Most popular amongst soldiers both North and South was an 1823 piece many soldiers knew from their childhoods. "Home Sweet Home" was played by bands on both sides of the conflict. Bands on both sides of the Rappahannock after the battle of Fredericksburg played the tune in unison as their respected armies left the field. In Murfreesboro whole divisions sung the tune hours before they were to slaughter each other in the Battle of Stone's River. Trinity Church in New York chimed its melody on July 4th 1863 as the Army of Northern Virginia started home after Gettysburg. After Lee's surrender at Appomattox, General Phil Sheridan's band played several movements to commemorate the end of fighting, their featured piece was "Home Sweet Home"    A few federal officers actually ordered their troops not to play or sing "Home Sweet Home" on the assumption that it promoted thoughts of desertion.

4. "Battle Cry of Freedom" Inked by the famous songwriter George F. Root, "Battle Cry of Freedom" quickly became a favorite among both civilians and troops. Written in 1862, its original lyrics of "The Union forever. Down with the Traitor, up with the star," were mimicked in the South. "Our Dixie forever... Down with the eagle and up with the cross." Troops of the North wrote often of the singing of "Battle Cry of Freedom" during battle and on the march to boost morale.     "Battle Cry of Freedom" was so effective in stirring Northern crowds into a frenzy that the Republican Party used it as one of their main campaign songs during the 1864 elections.

5. "Bonnie Blue Flag" Some authors have said there was a song about a flag for every brigade in the war. While it is doubtful there exist that many songs, it cannot be argued that they were plentiful. Songs like "Flag of the Free Eleven" from the South and "Every Star, Thirty Four" from the North, were sung on parade grounds and camps across the nation. The most popular of these songs was the brisk beat tune of the "Irish Jaunting Car" with lyrics changed to Harry Macarthy's 1861 poem "Bonnie Blue Flag"     When Union General Ben Butler was military commander of New Orleans, he had the publisher of "Bonnie Blue Flag" arrested, ordered copies of its sheet music destroyed, and declared that anyone singing the song would be fined or jailed.

6. "Maryland, My Maryland" Days after Ft. Sumter, 22year old James Ryder Randell, while teaching in Louisiana, set pen to paper and the poem that would later be set to the tune of "O Tannenbaum" was born. With lyrics that lambasted the North, southern voices soon rang out with passion the political zeal of "Huzza! She spurns the Northern scum!" Union soldiers of course had their own versions, "Michigan, My Michigan." Perhaps the most famous performance of "Maryland, My Maryland" came from Lee's Army of Northern Virginia who repeatedly sang it as they marched into Maryland in September 1862. This serenade was met with blood-red refrain from the Union Army along the banks of the Antietam.     Despite its anti-Union rhetoric, the anthem "Maryland, My Maryland" became the official song of that state in 1939, with lyrics unchanged from their original works.

7. "Lorena" The theme of love and loss scored well in music of the Civil War. Boys in blue spent many hours in camp singing of their love for "Aura Lea." While their Southern counterparts yearned for the "Yellow Rose of Texas." Mutually both sides had found a place in their hearts and musical knowledge for "Carrie Bell" and "Lille Terrell." The most popular love ballad sold in the South was a northern tune written by an Ohio minister. Reverend Henry Webster's song of "Lorena" spoke of his own heartbreak after falling in love with a member of his congregation. Too poor for his family to allow marriage, the reverend set to work on honoring his true love in a different manner. In 1858, a Chicago publisher sold the first copies of the mournful music.     Jeb Stuart, thoroughly fond of music and possessing a fair singing voice, sand "Lorena" on several occasions during the war.

8. "We are Coming, Father Abraham" ("300,000 More") Abraham Lincoln's July 1 1862 call for "an additional force of 300,000 men" gave fifty two year old Northern abolitionist James Sloan Gibbons his idea for a poem that was first featured two weeks later in the New York Evening Post. Within months the poem was set to melody and sheet music sales boomed. "We are Coming Father Abraham" was not a particular favorite among men already in uniform, however, it was sung at many pro-war rallies and fundraisers. Its most poignant performance occurred on a moonlit night in a small town, where thousands had gathered to see their president. Calling Lincoln out of his lodgings and begging for a speech, the choirs rang out with "We are Coming Father Abraham" Lincoln suggested they wait for morning when he would give the citizens of Gettysburg a "more fitting address."    "We are Coming Father Abraham" was the only song Gibbons ever published, yet it proved lucrative. During his lifetime, sales for the sheet music neared two million copies.

9. "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" Singer/songwriter Walter Kittredge of New Hampshire composed this lyrical lamentation right after he was drafted in 1863. Sung soft and low, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" is nearly a grieving dirge. Its tone throughout it that of a tired veteran, surrounded by death and seeing little hope for himself. A favorite among the enlisted on both sides, the piece was often dreaded by officers because of its tinges of fatalism and of the common occurrence of pickets giving away their position while singing it on duty.     The song's author Walter Kittredge was never a soldier himself. Though drafted in 1863, he was rejected on the grounds that he suffered from rheumatism.

10. "All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight" The song developed slowly not reaching print until several years after the original poem was written by Ethel Lynn Beers in 1861. Her inspiration came  from a newspaper report that a lone Union soldier had been killed on picket duty, while accompanying headlines claimed "All Quiet." In 1863 another New Yorker, John Hill Hewitt, set the poem to music and the first sheet music copies were published. By the end of the war a poem written by a Unionist and music penned by a Secessionist were sung together among campfires on both sides.     In 1879, Ethyl Lynn Beers published a compilation of her life's work called All Quiet Along the Potomac and Other Poems. The day after its release, she died.

The author of this section would appreciate any feedback you can offer. To contact him, email sgtslaten@kingsbattery.com