Patriotic songs have the power to bring people together in a musical celebration of unity and love of country. But what do people sing when their country tears itself apart? That was the unhappy circumstance during the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861–1865. For four years, the fate of the country hung in the balance as two parts of America took aim at each other.
For the victors, one song came to represent all they were fighting for. To the conquered, it was a musical slap at their honor and pride. Here is the story behind “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
In 1860, American voters elected Abraham Lincoln as president. Although he personally hated slavery, Lincoln promised not to interfere with the slave system in southern states.
Most Southerners, however, were fighting mad about Lincoln’s election. They were convinced his true goal was to end slavery and control the South. One by one these states seceded, or broke away, from the United States to form the Confederate States of America. As president, Lincoln felt duty-bound to fight to keep “the Union” together; the South vowed to fight for its independence.
On April 12, 1861, a Confederate cannon fired on Union forces at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, igniting what northerners referred to as the Civil War, and most southerners called the War Between the States.
Started: April 1861
Ended: April 1865
Who: The United States of America against the Confederate States of America
Why: Eleven southern states seceded from the U.S. for fear the national government would interfere with their rights—especially the right to own slaves. The states that remained in the Union went to war to end the rebellion.
In November 1861, a woman named Julia Ward Howe and her husband visited Washington, D.C. While there, Howe, a published poet, heard Union troops belting out a well-known marching song called “John Brown’s Body,” after the famous abolitionist, John Brown. A preacher standing with Howe encouraged her to write new lyrics to the tune.
“I replied that I had often wished to do so,” Howe later wrote.
That “something of importance” proved to be the words to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” In February 1862, she sold her poem to the Atlantic Monthly, a well-known magazine, for five dollars.
The new song spread quickly through the Union armies and was adopted by Union supporters who wanted to teach the southern rebels a lesson. (Oddly, it had been a southerner named William Steffe who had written the original music.) Howe’s version was packed with Biblical imagery and phrasing.
Howe took dead aim at slavery in her lyrics. She and her husband were strong anti-slavery activists, called abolitionists. Included in one verse of the hymn were the words “let us die to make men free”—to fight to end slavery, in other words. Howe’s new words also angered southerners. Not only did the song sing for an end to slavery, this “hymn”—a holy, church song—claimed that God was on the North’s side.
Despite pressures of the time to provide for her husband and home in very traditional ways, Julia Ward Howe was quite socially active in circles that included other authors such as Charles Margaret Fuller, Charles Sumner, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Charles Dickens. A lyrical poet and prolific author in her own right, Howe is best remembered for her new words to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She was active in prison reform, the fight to end slavery, and the fight to win equal rights for women.
Julia Ward Howe’s efforts for social justice continued after the war. In 1870, she campaigned for a Mother’s Day for Peace, a precursor of Mother’s Day. She also pushed for women’s suffrage—the right for women to vote.
This lively song of the South was actually written in New York City by a northern composer named Dan Emmett. Even stranger, “Dixie” was often featured in minstrel shows—white performers who painted their hands and faces black and acted out shameful stereotypes of former slaves. But the song became the unofficial anthem of the South during the war, and its lyrics were changed to make it a battle song. The lyrics below are attributed to Confederate General Albert Pike.
The fighting raged for four brutal years. More Americans died during the Civil War than in any war before or since: 620,000 dead and tens of thousands more wounded. Both sides fought fiercely for their beliefs.
In the end, the North’s larger population and manufacturing power overwhelmed the resources of the South. Compared to Confederate forces, the Union Army seemed to have a bottomless supply of soldiers and guns. Southern slave owners even had to battle their former slaves, now fighting in the blue uniforms of Union soldiers.
The main Confederate army surrendered in April 1865, and the Union was restored. Much of the South, though, was left in smoking ruins. Defeat, destruction, and the end of their way of life—namely slavery—left southerners with a bitter taste in their mouths. And when they heard “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” it left a bitter sound in their ears.
But the song was beautiful music to former slaves—black children, women, and men who now tasted freedom.
Writer
Sean McCollum
Editor
Lisa Resnick
Producer
Kenny Neal
Updated
September 17, 2019
Every song has a story about why it was written. Songs from the past are like recordings from long ago. They give us a sense of what our parents, grandparents, and extra-old ancestors feared, hoped for, and celebrated.Â
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Tiffany A. Bryant
Manager, Operations and Audience Engagement
JoDee Scissors
Content Specialist, Digital Learning
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