"Gentlemen, if we had your songs, we'd have licked you out of your boots," remarked a Confederate major on parole at the end of the Civil War, after hearing a group of Union Army songs (Lawrence 63). The years 2011 to 2015 mark the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, and of the many ways to commemorate this past tragedy, let us consider a handful of the songs composed during the war by northerners and southerners alike.

    The conflict left both sides with thousands of songs—during the war's first year over two thousand were published.  Some urged troopers onward, some wept over losses, some satirized opponents, others propagandized the home front. Some served as escape valves from the conflict's intense tensions. Many of the songs discussed below were sung by soldiers and civilians on both sides, in spite of political and economic sectionalism; both northerners and southerners relied on songs to alleviate wartime traumas. Few cultural artifacts reveal the emotions of an era as plainly as its songs do, and that is certainly the case for the American Civil War.

    Why was music so important in the 1860s?  Imagine conditions in the mid-nineteenth century—no electricity, no telephone, no recorded music, no radio, no television, no internet. People had fewer means of communication at their disposal, so local, community affairs were more prominent: horse racing, boxing, baseball, lectures, dances, and musical performances.  Musically, a distinctive harmonious, and even nationalistic, style emerged.  Country musicians fiddled, while mountaineers sang Old World ballads or composed new ones.  Lumberjacks, sailors, canalers, railroaders, and African-Americans (both slaves and free) created folk songs, while Stephen Foster wrote scores of popular songs, and Dan Emmett's minstrel shows attracted enthusiastic audiences.  Religious music took on the evangelistic camp meeting themes of the Second Great Awakening.  Then as now, music accompanied life, but people were much more likely then to make their own.


    Song output and quality favored the North. The New York Herald editorialized: "Good martial, national music is one of the advantages we have over the rebels" (Lawrence 63).  Several factors were responsible, including a more sophisticated urban population centered in cities such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.  Even the South's most popular song, "Dixie," was written in 1859 by a Yankee—Dan Emmett, a member of the New York based Bryant's Minstrels.

    Perhaps the North's most popular Civil War song was "Battle Hymn of the Republic," written by Julia Ward Howe to the tune of the "John Brown Song," which in turn was based upon the 1856 Methodist hymn "Brothers Will You Meet Me?", attributed to William Steffe, with its enthusiastic chorus of "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!"  Surprisingly, the John Brown in the title was not the John Brown hanged for the Harpers Ferry raid, but rather one Sergeant John Brown, killed in 1861 while soldiering with the Fort Warren, Massachusetts, volunteer regiment "The Tigers."  Sixty-five sheet music variations of the "John Brown Song" were created, including one honoring the war's first notable Northern fatality, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, and a tribute to the abolitionist John Brown.  The original "John Brown Song" became popular following bandmaster Pat Gilmore's rendition in Boston.  Its third stanza ran:

 John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back—
 John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back—
 John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back—
  His soul's marching on! (Lawrence 357)

    Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was published as a poem in The Atlantic Monthly of February, 1862, and later set to the tune of earlier variations.  It was generally sung at a slow tempo.
One of the most successful song writers during the Civil War was George Frederick Root.  Songs supporting the Union's cause poured forth from his profitable Chicago music publishing house.  The lyrics and rhythms of Root's "Battle Cry of Freedom" made it the most effective rallying song of the North.  Soldiers sang it in camp, while marching, and in battle.  Stanza 4 follows:

So we're springing to the call
From the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,
And we'll hurl the rebel crew
From the land we love the best,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom. (Glass and Singer 37)

    "Dixie" was the favorite Southern song, even though written by a Yankee.  Orchestral conductor Carlos Patti at the Varieties Theatre in New Orleans used "Dixie" as a march and drill number for forty female Zouaves (the French light infantry unit famous for their short jackets and baggy trousers).  The song became an instant hit throughout the South and was played at Jefferson Davis's inauguration.

    Another show tune, "The Bonnie Blue Flag," sung to the 1850s ditty "The Irish Jaunting Car," rivaled "Dixie" for popularity.  Written by Harry Macarthy, "the Arkansas Comedian," and performed by his wife at his "Personation Concerts" at New Orleans's Varieties Theatre, the song became a favorite of troops and civilians alike.  The lyrics listed which states seceded and invited others to join the cause.  As new states seceded, the song added their names to the list.  Its last stanza proclaimed:

Then here's to our Confederacy—strong we are and brave,
Like patriots of old, we'll fight our heritage to save;
And rather than submit to shame, to die we would prefer—
So cheer for the bonnie blue flag that bears a single star.
 Hurrah! hurrah! for Southern rights! hurrah! &c. (Lawrence 358)

    Henry Clay Work was an abolitionist in the employ of publisher and composer George F. Root, who urged him to write Civil War songs.  The result was one hit after another, with "Marching Through Georgia" the most spectacular. Work wrote "Marching Through Georgia" following General William Tecumseh Sherman's successful campaign to split the Confederacy apart in late 1864; the song celebrating Sherman's "scorched earth" march alienated southerners until the Spanish-American War began to heal sectional differences.  Its last stanza:

So we made a thoroughfare
For Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude—
Three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us,
For resistance was in vain,
While we were marching through Georgia. (Glass and Singer 225)

    Very few major Civil War battles were remembered in song. However, a few lesser known battles entered the folk tradition, including the battle at Pea Ridge, Arkansas.  It was the most important engagement in the Ozarks and involved some 25,000 men.  Max Hunter learned the song "The Battle of Pea Ridge" from Mrs. Allie Long Parker of Pleasant Valley, Arkansas in 1958.  It began:

It was on March the seventh
In the year of sixty-two,
We had a sore engagement
With Abe Lincoln's crew,
Van Dorn was our commander,
As you remember be.
We lost ten thousand of our men
Near the Indian Territory. (Hunter 4)

    African-Americans served in the Union Army and ably participated in many battles, even though segregated and commanded by white officers.  Perhaps the most famous regiment was The First of Arkansas.  The song "Marching Song of the First of Arkansas" was ascribed to Captain Lindley Miller, the regimental white commander.  As a propaganda weapon to recruit black soldiers, it used the same tune as Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic."  Its second stanza follows:

            We have done with hoeing cotton, we have done with hoeing corn,
            We are colored Yankee soldiers, now, as sure as you are born;
            When the masters hear us yelling, they'll think it's Gabriel's horn,
                As we go marching on. (Darling, Messages 84-85)

    The Union forces included not only African-Americans, but also recent immigrants, including Irish.  "Pat Murphy of the Irish Brigade" salutes the heroism of an Irishman who died "For America's bright starry banner."  Its last stanza follows:

No more in the camp will his letters be read,
Or his song be heard singing so gayly,
But he died far away from the friends that he loved,
And far from the land of shillelagh. (Silber 11)

    Composed by John R. Thompson, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, and based upon a minstrel melody, "Richmond Is a Hard Road to Travel" satirizes inept Union generals who were ordered to capture the Confederate capital, Richmond.  The lyrics are the wordiest of Civil War songs.  Its second stanza:

First, McDowell, bold and gay, set forth the shortest way,
By Manassas in the pleasant summer weather,
But unfortunately ran on a Stonewall, foolish man,
And had a "rocky journey" altogether;
And he found it rather hard to ride o'er Beauregard,
And Johnston proved a deuce of a bother,
And 'twas clear beyond a doubt that he didn't like the route,
And a second time would have to try another. (Darling, Messages 84-85)

    Confederate sea raiders caused havoc for Union commercial shipping.  The English-built Alabama destroyed or captured fifty-six merchant ships.  Finally, in 1864 (not 1865 as the song says) the USS Kearsarge sank it off the coast of France.  Ironically, the ballad "The Alabama" originated as a black longshoremen's tune "Roll the Cotton Down."  Stanzas six and eight follow:

Many a sailor he saw his doom,
     Roll, Alabama, roll;
When the Kearsarge it hove into view,
      Roll, Alabama, roll.
Off the three mile-limit in sixty-five,
       Roll, Alabama, roll;
The Alabama went to her grave,
        Roll, Alabama, roll. (Silber 7)

    "Just Before the Battle, Mother" was one of George F. Root's most popular sentimental songs.  An unknown southerner penned new words, titling the result "Farewell Mother."  The first stanza sets the tone:

Just before the battle, mother,
I was drinking mountain dew,
When I saw the "Rebels" marching,
To the rear I quickly flew;
Where the stragglers were flying,
Thinking of their homes and wives;
'Twas not the "Reb" we feared, dear mother,
But our own dear precious lives. (Silber 10)

    "Our Maryland" was a trite Northern parody of English professor James Randall's "Maryland My Maryland."  Its last stanza:

Like dogs all raving for a crumb,
    Maryland! Our Maryland!
They madly rushed for bread and rum,
    Maryland! Our Maryland!
But backward ran, with voices dumb,
And drooping hands, and faces glum,
They ran from Union's rolling drum,
     Maryland! Our Maryland! (Lawrence 360)

    Perhaps the most famous comic camp song was "Goober Peas."  Goobers or peanuts were a staple food for the Confederates.  For the soldiers, a communal sing-a-long around the campfire perhaps lessened the hardships of the day.

Just before the battle,
The gen'ral hears a row,
He says, "The Yanks are coming,
I hear their rifles now."
He turns around in wonder,
And what do you think he sees?
The Georgia Militia
Eating goober peas! (Glass and Singer 167)

    "Short Rations" was a bitter reminder that the Confederate armies lacked sufficient food.  Written by the poet-soldier John Alcee Augustin in 1863, it was based on first hand experience.   The last line of stanza one and the chorus went:

Come list[en] to my song of starvation!
For we soldiers have seen something rougher,
Than a storm, retreat, or a fight,
And the body may toil on and suffer,
With a smile, so the heart is all right! (Lawrence 406)

    Walter Kittredge wrote "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" shortly after receiving his draft notice in 1863.  Its hauntingly moving cry for peace became immensely popular with both civilians and soldiers—northerners and southerners alike.  First stanza and chorus follow:

Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
Wishing for the war to cease;
Many are the hearts that are looking for the right
To see the dawn of peace.
    Tenting tonight,
    Tenting on the old camp ground,
    Tenting tonight, tenting tonight,
    Tenting on the old camp ground. (Silber 7)

    The Civil War offered vivid contrasts in musical compositions.  "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was a hit as a marching song for the Union.  Pat Gilmore, bandmaster of the United States Army, wrote this musical legacy while stationed in occupied New Orleans in 1863.  Based on a traditional Irish folk melody, its popularity engendered numerous parodies.

The old church bell will peal with joy,
     Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy,
    Hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and lasses say,
With roses they will strew the way,
And we'll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home. (Lawrence 397)

    But in the South there was no such joy.  "Oh, I'm a Good Old Rebel" was written by Major Innes Randolph, CSA, shortly after the war.  Filled with bitterness and hatred, the song entered the folk tradition as it spread throughout the South during the rocky road of Reconstruction following the war's end, and even later.  Stanza three:

I hate the Yankee Nation,
And everything they do;
I hate the Declaration
Of Independence, too;
I hate the glorious Union,
'Tis dripping with our blood;
It hate the striped banner,
I fit [fought] it all I could. (Asch)

    The Civil War still attracts a great deal of attention—even in song creation. "Two Brothers," written by Irving Gordon in 1951, tells of how brother fought brother, a powerful reminder of the consequences of civil conflict.

One was gentle, one was kind, (repeat)
One came home, one stayed behind;
Cannon ball don't pay no mind, (repeat)
If you're gentle, if you're kind,
Don't care 'bout the folks behind,
All on a beautiful morning. (Silber 16)

    On December 13, 1862, General A. E. Burnside launched a foolish frontal assault on General Lee's fortified defenses at Fredericksburg, Virginia.  The Union army suffered over 10,000 casualties.  One Confederate officer observed that a chicken could not have lived in the line of fire.  The song "Fredericksburg 1862" is the true story of Sergeant Richard Rowland Kirkland of the Second South Carolina Volunteers.  Called "The Angel of Marye's Heights" for his humanitarian heroism, he carried water many times from a well to comfort dying Yankee soldiers.  The ballad was composed and sung by Will White on his CD "Rise Above" in 2010.  Stanza 10:

To die alone no family
In unfamiliar land
They wore the Union colors                   
But a man is still a man
A man is still a man. (White)

    The Civil War was not civil.  It pitted abolitionists against slave owners, unionists against secessionists, brothers against brothers.  Those dichotomies unleashed a conflict that would continue for four years and leave over 600,000 soldiers dead, both Union and Confederate, hundreds of thousands more maimed and crippled, for a cost of over $15 billion in actual dollars, plus continuing expenses in pensions and national debt interest. 

    While reminding us of the emotional nature of the North-South conflict, the era's music tempered extreme partisanship. The thousands of songs composed during the Civil War mixed sentiment and patriotism with vivid description in what were usually partisan ways, reflecting popular feeling, but both sides embraced the same roots of American music that had evolved over 200 years.  It is not surprising that "Yanks" and "Rebs" exchanged songs.  Just before the Fredericksburg battle, a Union band played "Dixie," "My Maryland," and "The Bonnie Blue Flag" at the request of Confederates stationed across the river.  Impassioned Union songwriter George F. Root composed "Foes and Friends," depicting two soldiers who lay dying on a red clay battlefield, one from New Hampshire, one from Georgia.  Root's message brought Yankee and Rebel together as friends and their daughters as casualties of the Civil War.

And now, the girl with golden hair,
    And she with dark eyes bright,
On Hampshire's hills and Georgia's plain,
    Were fatherless that night. (Glass and Singer 266)

Acoustic Shadows of the Blue and Gray. Echoes Through Time, 2 CDs. Dawson, Pa.: Acoustic Shadows, 1998-2000.

____.  Marching the Roads of Valor.  Pittsburgh, Pa.: Acoustic Shadows, 2004.
Asch, Moses. Booklet accompanying Ballads of the Civil War, 2 LPs.  New York: Folkways Records, 1954.

Darling, Charles.  Messages of Dissent: Struggle Songs in American History. Youngstown, Ohio: CWD Press, 2005.

____.  The New American Songster, 2nd ed. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1992.

Forcucci, Samuel L.  A Folk Song History of America.  Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1984.

Glass, Paul, and Louis C. Singer.  Singing Soldiers.  New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1968.

Hunter, Max. Booklet accompanying Ozark Folksongs and Ballads. Sharon, Ct.: Folk-Legacy Records, 1963.

Lawrence, Vera Brodsky.  Music for Patriots, Politicians, and Presidents.  New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1975.

Rucker, Sparky & Rhonda.  The Blue and the Gray in Black and White. Chicago: Flying Fish Records, 1992.

Silber, Erwin.  Booklet accompanying Songs of the Civil War.  New York: Folkways Records, 1960.

Unger, Jay & Molly Mason.  Live at Gettysburg College. West Hurley, N.Y.: Fiddle & Dance Records, 1995

White, Will.  Rise Above.  Ontario, Canada: Whippoorwill Music, 2010.

    Charles W. Darling was born in Medford and graduated from Abington High School, both in Massachusetts.  He holds degrees from Youngstown State University and Ohio University, and has done additional graduate work at Pennsylvania State University and Ohio State University.  He began his teaching career at Springfield Local High School, where he was head of the Social Studies Department.  In 1966 he joined the faculty of Youngstown State University, retiring in 1995 as Professor Emeritus of American History.  He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in U. S. economic, social and cultural history, the Vietnam War, and American folk music.  In 2009 he delivered the Paxton Award Paper, "The Origins of American Involvement in Vietnam," at the IATC Convention in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Darling is the author of two science fiction books and two compilations of folk music, the most recent being Messages of Dissent: Struggle Songs in American History.  Since 1969 he has hosted “Folk Festival,” heard Sundays from 8 to 9:30 PM on WYSU-FM, 88.5.  The paper was read at the Youngstown Torch Club November 19, 2012