155th Anniversary of America’s Most God-Inspired Patriotic Song

The Christian Diarist ^ | April 9, 2017 | JP

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

One hundred fifty-five years ago, the Atlantic Monthly published on its front cover the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which not only is one of this nation’s most well-known patriot songs, but also, arguably, its most spiritual.

The melody was borrowed from a Civil War marching song, which paid tribute to the abolitionist John Brown, and which was popular with Union soldiers.

The song’s lyrics – “poor old John Brown is dead, his body lies mouldering in the grave” – were inoffensive to soldiers marching into battle, but deemed too coarse to be sung by the general public.

So it was, providentially, that the poetess Julia Ward Howe found herself in 1862 on Upton Hill in Northern Virginia, headquarters of Union Army command, where she attended a public review of Union Army troops.

The review was cut short by a skirmish between Union and Confederate soldiers, so she climbed aboard a waiting carriage, accompanied by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, in route to nearby Washington, D.C., where she was staying at the Willard Hotel.

As the carriage bearing the Howe and the Rev. Clark passed by a detachment of Union troops, they heard the men singing the words to “John Brown’s Body.” Rev. Clark suggested that the poetess Howe write new lyrics for the marching song, memorializing what she experienced on Upton’s Hill.

According to Howe’s first-hand account, when she returned to her lodgings at the Willard Hotel, she went to sleep.

“I awoke,” she remembered, “in the gray of the morning twilight; and as I lay waiting for the dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind. Having thought out all the stanzas, I said to myself, ‘I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep and forget them.’

So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of my bed, and found in the dimness an old stump of a pen which I remembered to have used the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.”

Howe went back to bed and fell asleep. When she awoke, she said, she felt “something of importance had happened to me.”

That’s what it means to be divinely inspired. It is when the Holy Spirit uses those whom God has chosen – like the poetess Howe – to impart a message to His redeemed during a particularly momentous time in history.

Howe’s lyrics for the “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” were penned against the backdrop of the Civil War, the deadliest military conflict in U.S. history, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” wrote Howe. “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on.”

The poetess concluded: “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.”

The lyrics of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” reportedly moved President Abraham Lincoln to tears when a soloist sung it at a large public rally he attended. “Sing it again!,” the nation’s 16th president shouted.

And Americans continue to sing again and again Julie Ward Howe’s patriotic hymn 155 years since it was first published. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! God’s divine inspiration marches on.

[TexasKamaAina]

Yes - an outrageously inappropriate hymn that celebrates military aggression.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Great story. Thanks for posting it.

Mrs. Howe's lyrics are just incredible and work so perfectly with the tune. She had such wonderful mastery of the English language. Right from the first inspirational lines: "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 lightening of His terrible swift sword"

I'm watching "Heaven's Gate" for the first time and the song plays a key role in the opening scene, graduation at Harvard University in 1870, just five years after the war ended (aside: it IS a plodding film, but incredible cinematography, scenery, and a wonderful musical score with an amazing story behind it).

[jeffersondem]

“Would true Christians encourage and invoke carnage on their fellow man?”

I don't believe being a Christian requires universal pacifism, but the attack on the South by the Lincoln regime was wrong on many levels.

In simple terms, northern interests wanted to eliminate southern political and economic competition which had been an irritant since before the revolution. As in so many instances, follow the money.

[xone]

Would true Christians encourage and invoke carnage on their fellow man?

You mean like Nazis, Japs, Communists, those in rebellion? Obviously no true Christians in those engagements.

[xone]

Would true Christians encourage and invoke carnage on their fellow man?

Jihadis.

[NorthstarMom]

Sometimes our pastor takes hymn requests during the evening service. There was a time when our all of our elementary age kids raised their hands and requested this song. It didn’t matter if it were Easter or Christmas or which child he called on. They all picked this one every time.

[Lee N. Field]

Chillingly eschtological. But, don’t equate the Union Army with the hand of God.

[huldah1776]

Like the book of Ecclesiates. I can imagine this hymn being sung when the Warrior King returns to rule and maybe 2/3 of the world’s population is killed. Truth is a sword.

[the OlLine Rebel]

OK, yeah, it WAS based on a tune stating “John Brown’s body lies a molderin’ in the grave”.

It was NOT about THE jackass nut John Brown. It was a general name used in “fun”.

[pigsmith]

Bfl

[BroJoeK]

jeffersondem: "Reminds me of the comment made by the ranch hand in the movie Red River: 'Why is it when you kill a man, you want to read the Lord into it?'
Or in this case, 600,000 men."

The Confederacy had its own long list of battle songs, including this one, their version of "Battle Cry of Freedom"

Here's a pretty good list of Dixie songs.
Note that many call on the Lord for His support.

Here's a Confederate song celebrating the Confederate Irish Brigade

"Didn't those cowardly Linconites tremble when they met with the Irish Brigade!"

[BroJoeK]

jeffersondem: "I don't believe being a Christian requires universal pacifism..."

Correct, from earliest times soldiers were welcomed into Christian communities.

jeffersondem: "...but the attack on the South by the Lincoln regime was wrong on many levels."

Incorrect, because the attack by the Confederacy on the Union was wrong on many levels.
Every nation has a right to defend itself and defeat military forces which provoke, start, declare and wage war on it, as Confederates did against the Union.

jeffersondem: "In simple terms, northern interests wanted to eliminate southern political and economic competition which had been an irritant since before the revolution.
As in so many instances, follow the money."

In simple terms, what you just posted is a stinking pile of excrement, mythology unrelated to real historical facts, FRiend.

[pax_et_bonum]

“Was Christ born in the beauty of the lilies overseas?

I was always taught he was born in a feeding trough amid the squalor of a cow byre.”

---

The lily is a symbol of purity and innocence.