The music of the Civil War era was rich in melody, history and lyrics that evoke another era. There were songs for Northerners, songs for Rebs, songs for slaves, and some songs that transcended the tastes of any one group. Many songs were known and sung by both sides during the conflict, but we will try to concentrate on those that originated in the North.
1) John Brown’s Body, also known as Battle Hymn of the Republic, is really two songs that both used the melody of an old Methodist hymn. The abolitionist John Brown who tried to instigate a slave revolt at Harper’s Ferry and failed, still provided a rallying cry for Northern troops. In November of 1861, Julia Ward Howe wrote the new lyrics that begin “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord“. Eventually her version was printed as sheet music by a Boston printer. One hundred years later, Judy Garland sang Howe’s version on her TV show after JFK was assassinated. Below are the lyrics to the John Brown version.
John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on.
CHORUS: Glory, glory, hallelujah, Glory, glory, hallelujah,
Glory, glory, hallelujah, His soul goes marching on.
He’s gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,
He’s gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,
He’s gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,
His soul goes marching on.
John Brown’s knapsack is strapped upon his back,
John Brown’s knapsack is strapped upon his back,
John Brown’s knapsack is strapped upon his back,
His soul goes marching on.
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
His soul goes marching on.
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
His soul goes marching on.
2) Better Times Are Coming (Stephen Foster)
Stephen Foster was an enormously successful composer of his time, who is probably the most famous son of Kentucky. Kentucky was a border state during the Civil War and for a time had two state governments, one Confederate and one Union. After 1863, tho, the Union occupation put the Confederate government out of business. Anyway, for the purpose of this article, I am putting all of Foster’s compositions into the Union list.
There are voices of hope, that are borne on the air,
And our land will be free, from its clouds of despair.
For brave men and true men, To battle have gone,
And good times, good times are now coming on.
CHORUS: Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. Sound the news.
From the din of battle booming
Tell the people far and wide
That better times are coming.
Generals Lyons and Baker And Ellsworth now are gone,
But still we have some brave men, to lead the soldiers on.
The noise of battle will soon have died away,
And the darkness now upon us, will be turned to a happy today.
3) Marching Through Georgia (H C Work)
General Sherman believed in the necessity for a scorched earth policy to slice through the South’s supply lines and force a surrender. He put fire to everything on his march to the sea (Atlanta to Savannah), spreading his troops sixty miles wide. It was the equivalent of the H-bomb at Hiroshima. Unfortunately no one could control the hangers-on who looted in the wake of the troops, stealing jewelry off ladies and searching for silverware.
Bring in the good old bugle, boys, we’ll sing another song.
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along.
Sing it like we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.
Hurrah, hurrah, we bring the jubilee.
Hurrah, hurrah, the flag that makes you free.
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.
4) Hard Times Come Again No More (Stephen Foster)
Polite society did not even acknowledge the abject poverty in ordinary times, much less the displaced starving souls wandering the streets and countryside as a result of the war. So this song is remarkable for being directed at the people who begged for food and help. I detect something of Scarlett O’Hara’s determined vow that she would “never be hungry again.
Let us pause in life’s pleasures, and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor.
There’s a song that will linger, forever in our ears,
Oh hard times come again no more.
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard times hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered, around my cabin door,
Oh hard times come again no more.
While we seek mirth and beauty, and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door.
While their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say,
Oh hard times come again no more.
Many days have you lingered, around my cabin door,
Oh hard times come again no more, oh hard times come again no more.
5) When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Patrick S. Gilmore, aka Louis Lambert)
This Civil War era song was resurrected for World War I, and has been played at many a Fourth of July parade with few realizing how old it is.
When Johnny comes marching home again, Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll give him a hearty welcome then, Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer, the boys will shout,
The ladies they will all turn out,
And we’ll all feel gay When Johnny comes marching home.
The old church bells will peal with joy, Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy, Hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and lassies say,
With roses they will strew the way,
And we’ll all feel gay When Johnny comes marching home.
Get ready for the Jubilee, Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll give the hero three times three, Hurrah! Hurrah!
The laurel wreath is ready now,
To place upon his loyal brow,
And we’ll all feel gay When Johnny comes marching home.
Let love and friendship on that day, Hurrah! Hurrah!
Their choicest treasures then display, Hurrah! Hurrah!
And let each one perform some part,
To fill with joy the warrior’s heart,
And we’ll all feel gay When Johnny comes marching home.
6) Was My Brother In The Battle (Stephen Foster)
Modern ears may find this lyric a bit maudlin, as a woman searches the faces of soldiers returning from battle and asks if her brother has fallen. She assures us that if he did, that he surely must have been brave and undaunted by the enemy.
Tell me, tell me weary soldier, from the rude and stirring wars,
was my brother in the battle, where you gained those noble scars?
He was ever brave and valiant, and I know he never fled.
Was his name among the wounded, or numbered with the dead?
Was my brother in the battle, when the tide of war ran high?
You would know him in a moment, by his dark and flashing eyes.
Tell me, tell me weary soldier, will he never come again?
Did he suffer with the sounded, or die among the slain?
Was my brother in the battle, when the noble highland host
Were so wrongfully outnumbered, on the Carolina coast?
Did he struggle for the Union, mid the thunder and the rain,
Till he fell among the brave, on a bleak Virginia plain?
Oh I’m sure that he was dauntless, and his courage never lagged,
By contending for the honor of a dear and cherished flag.
Was my brother in the battle, when the flag of Erin came,
To the rescue of our banner, and protection of our fame?
While the fleet from off the water, poured out terror and dismay,
Till the bold and wearying foe, fell like leaves of autumn day.
When the bugle called to battle, and the cannons deeply roused,
Oh I wish I could have seen him, draw his sharp and glittering sword.
7) Vacant Chair (Henry Washburn and George F. Root)
Another rather maudlin tune is about the empty chair at holiday gatherings, formerly occupied by a soldier fallen in the war. The Willie in the song was Lt. John William Grout of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, who died in Virginia in 1861. Even tho it was inspired by the death of a Yankee soldier, the song became popular in both the North and South.
We shall meet but we shall miss him, there will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him, while we breathe our evening prayer.
When a year ago we gathered, joy was in his mild blue eye.
But a golden chord is severed, and our hopes in ruin lie.
At our fireside, sad and lonely, often will the bosom swell,
At remembrance of the story, how our noble Willie fell.
How he strove to bear our banner, through the thickest of the fight,
And uphold our country’s honor, in the strength of manhood’s might.
True, they tell us wreaths of glory ever more will deck his brow,
But this soothes the anguish only, sweeping o’er our heartstrings now.
Sleep today o early fallen, in thy green and narrow bed,
Dirges from the pine and cypress, mingle with the tears we shed.
8) Tramp Tramp Tramp (George F. Root)
Prisoner of war camps during the Civil War were about as lethal as the battlefields. Disease ran rampant in the crowded conditions, and sanitation was primitive.
In the prison cell I sit, thinking Mother, dear, of you,
And our bright and happy home so far away,
And the tears, they fill my eyes ‘spite of all that I can do,
Tho’ I try to cheer my comrades and be gay.
CHORUS: Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching,
Cheer up, comrades, they will come,
And beneath the starry flag we shall breathe the air again
Of the free land in our own beloved home.
In the battle front we stood, when their fiercest charge they made,
And they swept us off a hundred men or more,
But before we reached their lines, they were beaten back dismayed,
And we heard the cry of vict’ry o’er and o’er.
So within the prison cell we are waiting for the day
That shall come to open wide the iron door,
And the hollow eye grows bright, and the poor heart almost gay,
As we think of seeing home and friends once more.
9) The Battle Cry of Freedom (George F. Root)
The phrase “rally around the flag” appears in this song, although I am sure it was not its first appearance.
Yes we’ll rally round the flag, boys, we’ll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,
And we’ll rally from the hillside we’ll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.
(CHORUS) The Union forever, Hurrah boys, hurrah!
Down with the Traitor, Up with the Star;
While we rally round the flag, boys,
Rally once again, Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.
We are springing to the call three hundred thousand more,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,
And we’ll fill the vacant ranks of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.
We will welcome to our numbers the loyal true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,
And altho’ he may be poor he shall never be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.
So we’re singing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,
And we’ll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.
10) Taps (General Daniel Butterfield)
Taps is one of the most emotionally evocative songs ever written, and almost always without any of the lyrics. It began as an alternative to Lights Out, created by Gen. Butterfield with help from the bugler, Oliver Willcox Norton in 1862. I say created rather than written because Butterfield wrote a few notes on an envelope, and the bugler translated it into the music we know today. It is similar to the British tune Last Post which is played at soldiers graves since 1885. One of the most haunting movie renditions of this tune was in the film From Here to Eternity, as Montgomery Clift played it for his late buddy, Frank Sinatra (Maggio).
Even I did not know that there were lyrics to Taps. Here they are.
Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh — Falls the night.
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
Then good night, peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear — Friend, good night.
You can read the story of Taps and a letter from the bugler Norton at the Arlington National cemetery website here: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/taps.htm
