CIVIL WAR SONGS

"Battle Hymn of the Republic"

Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1861 after visiting a Union army camp. Utilizing the already popular abolitionist tune, “John Brown’s Body,” the Battle Hymn quickly became a rallying cry and the most popular song of the war in the North.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:

His day is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:

“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,

Since God is marching on.”

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

Click on the link below for an audio version of the song with a brief history of the song's author.

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/on-the-homefront/culture/music/the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/the-battle-hymn-of-the.html

Taps

While there are no offical record of lyrics to the original version of Taps, this song originated during the Civil War and it is played during flag ceremonies and funerals, generally on bugle or trumpet.

Click on the link below for an audio version of the song.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/taps.htm

"Three Hundred Thousand More"

By John S. Gibbons, this was written to aid Lincoln's 1862 call for 300,000 more Union troops. Originally published in the New York Evening Post. Click on the link below for the full lyrics.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID%2B@lit(cw10594a))

Wade in the Water

A popular slave spiritual even before the Civil War, “Wade in the Water” was not formally published until 1901. Its lyrics contain coded instructions to fugitive slaves about how to avoid being re-captured. It suggests walking in a stream bed in order to foil pursuing bloodhounds. The song is widely associated with the Underground Railroad. It has repeatedly been reported that Harriet Tubman, who helped hundreds of slaves flee to the North, sang this spiritual as a warning to runaway slaves so she might be its author.

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water

God's gonna trouble the water.

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water

God's gonna trouble the water.

See that host all dressed in white

God's gonna trouble the water

The leader looks like an Israelite

God's gonna trouble the water.

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water

God's gonna trouble the water.

See that band all dressed in red

God's gonna trouble the water

Looks like the band that Moses led

God's gonna trouble the water.

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water

God's gonna trouble the water.

Look over yonder, what did I see?

God's gonna trouble the water

The Holy Ghost a-coming for me

God's gonna trouble the water.

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water

God's gonna trouble the water

If you don't believe I've been redeemed

God's gonna trouble the water

Just follow me down to the Jordan's stream

God's gonna trouble the water.

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water

God's gonna trouble the water

*There are numerous variations and alternative verses.

Click on the link below for an audio version of the song.

http://civilwarheritagetrails.org/civil-war-music/wade-in-the-water.html

Hymn 17 - Abolitionist verses by A. G. Duncan, 1843

Anti-slavery Melodies: For the Friends of Freedom edited by Jairus Lincoln

My country, 'tis of thee,

Stronghold of slavery, of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,

Where men man’s rights deride,

From every mountainside thy deeds shall ring!

My native country, thee,

Where all men are born free, if white’s their skin;

I love thy hills and dales,

Thy mounts and pleasant vales;

But hate thy negro sales, as foulest sin.

Let wailing swell the breeze,

And ring from all the trees the black man’s wrong;

Let every tongue awake;

Let bond and free partake;

Let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

Our father’s God! to thee,

Author of Liberty, to thee we sing;

Soon may our land be bright,

With holy freedom’s right,

Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King.

It comes, the joyful day,

When tyranny’s proud sway, stern as the grave,

Shall to the ground be hurl’d,

And freedom’s flag, unfurl’d,

Shall wave throughout the world, O’er every slave.

Trump of glad jubilee!

Echo o’er land and sea freedom for all.

Let the glad tidings fly,

And every tribe reply,

“Glory to God on high,” at Slavery’s fall.

The link below has a number of other authentic Civil War era songs

http://civilwarheritagetrails.org/civil-war-music/