You know how it goes. The fans of John Brown had difficulty deciding whether or not he was superior to Jesus, since Jesus didn’t free any slaves. A few years later that same question was attached to Lincoln. And anyone who thinks that is hyperbole simply hasn’t read what the Boston transcendentalists were writing at the time. The Battle Hymn of the Republic is one of the finest examples, most people thinking it’s a religious hymn. It’s a hymn celebrating the nation as a vengeful God with his “gospel” written in gleaming bayonets. Even the Germans didn’t think of that one.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic was the perfect song for the day as the Union was carrying out God’s work and paying an enormous price for doing so.