"I'll Be a Sergeant" is the Civil War ancestor of the World War II British marching song, "I've Got Six-Pence." The song is credited to an unknown H.A.W. The original popular lyrics were "John Brown's Body." The tune is that of an old Methodist hymn, although the closing theme is attributed by some to Stephen Foster's "Ellen Bayne." It brought tears to Lincoln's eyes on various occasions. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1861) was a marching song of the Northern army during the Civil War. Lee said that without music he would not have had an army.īattle Hymn of the Republic G.S. One Confederate Major wrote about the first time he heard the song, "I was on picket…(I)t seemed to me the whole Yankee Army was singing…I am not naturally superstitious, but I tell you that song sounded to me like the 'knell of doom,' and my heart went down into my boots and though I've tried to do my duty, it has been an up-hill fight with me ever since that night." This is certainly a vivid illustration of why Robert E.
On the other hand, Confederate troops dreaded the song. Diaries and newspaper stories are replete with anecdotes about the inspirational effect of this song for the Union Army. "The Battle Cry of Freedom" was introduced at a war rally in Chicago on July 24, 1862. The Photographic History of the Civil War.History of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during its term of service.The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War.Detailed Minutiae of Solder Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865.Lossing's Pictorial History of the United States.Fox's Regimental Losses In The American Civil War.Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.Tennessee Department of Education Home Page.Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.North Dakota State Government - Education.New York State Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education.Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.Indiana Department of Education & Training.Illinois State Board of Education Home Page.
Such things were very common, and remain so today as songs are adapted, parodied, and sung rousingly for the polar opposite cause from the original.īecause all sets of original lyrics were not so kid-friendly, we have adapted them for this arrangement. It is interesting to note that while the lyrics were forcefully pro-Union, saying derisive things about the South and its armies, the tune became so popular that people on the Confederate side of the conflict adapted the song with lyrics that were positive for their cause. Selling sheet music was the primary way that composers supported themselves while writing music. If you share this information with your students, discuss the fact that at the time people only experienced music by hearing someone perform it, or by performing it themselves, mostly with sheet music. So much so, that at the peak of its popularity, the publisher was running 14 presses at the same time, all printing the sheet music, and even then they could not keep up with demand. The song quickly caught on with people in the North. This boisterously patriotic song was written by George Frederick Root in 1862 in the midst of America's great Civil War, a terrible few years of our history.