Songs of the Civil War

    The years just before and during the Civil War brought forth many songs from both the Union and the Confederacy.  Nearly all of the famous battles have songs telling of the feelings of the soldiers involved.
    One famous song was indirectly inspired by the raid on Harper's Ferry by the abolitionist, John Brown.  The song, John Brown's Body was set to the tune of an old Methodist Sunday School hymn, "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Me", written by William Steffe.  The old tune with its new words was soon being sung by the Union soldiers all over the country as the war against slavery progressed.
    In 1861, Julia Ward Howe heard the song while on her way to an army camp near Washington, D.C.  The tune stayed with her, and that night she wrote a new set of words entitled, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Within a few months the song was being sung throughout the Union.  It's triumphant mood and inspiring words have preserved its popularity to the present day.
 
 

    The desperation of a dying Confederacy, and the longing of all soldiers for home are expressed in the words of Tenting Tonight.
Written by a Northerner, Walter Kittridge, it is ironic that it is more frequently associated with the South than with the North.  In direct contrast to the Battle Hymn, this song is sentimental, and speaks of thoughts closest to each man's heart.
 
 

That music sometimes speaks where man cannot is evident in a story involving another Civil War song.  One dark night, the two armies faced each other from opposite banks of a river.  The day had been filled with the sounds of fierce battle, but now the air was still as both sides rested for the next day's encounter.  One side began to sing, softly at first, then with growing strength as the men across the river began to join in.  For one of the few times in history, two bitterly opposing forces laid aside their differences to share a common emotion.  What song so strong that it could halt a war?