Download Battle Cry of Freedom

EDUCATION
PRESENTS
Battle Cry of Freedom
Created for Kentucky Opera
By Deanna R Hoying & Andrew Harris
Study guide written by
Deanna R Hoying, Director of Education
Sponsored by
BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM study guide for teachers and students
The BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM school tour is designed to introduce new audiences to the operatic voice through celebrating the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. The
show focuses on the music of the North and South, songs they shared and words that were
changed to fit either side. The role of music during the war helped to shape not only opinions on both sides, but could also be used to boost the morale of the troops, share funny
stories and on at least one occasion, find common ground in a longing for home.
This study guide will follow the order of songs performed in BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM elaborating on the history of the songs as well as details of the war (before, during and just after)
as well as additional resources for learning more about the Civil War.
Chapters include:
 The 1850s and the Gold Rush—Oh Susanna!
 The Election of Abraham Lincoln—Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness
 Northern and Southern pride—Dixie, Battle Cry of Freedom
 Songs of slavery—Go Down, Moses
 Music as propaganda—Bonnie Blue Flag, Maryland, My Maryland, Kentucky! O Kentucky!
 Rallying the Union—Battle Hymn of the Republic and John Brown’s Body
 Marching songs—The Yellow Rose of Texas
 The price of war—Home, Sweet Home, The Drummer Boy of Shiloh
 Prisoners of war—Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!
 Using humor to bolster morale—Goober Peas
 Hope for a safe return—When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
 Surrender and acceptance—The Blue and the Gray
 Remembering—Two Brothers
Let’s begin the journey.
1
The 1850s and the Gold Rush—Oh Susanna!
In the decade leading up to the Civil War, the country was experiencing an economic boom thanks in part to the 1849 Gold Rush.
wealth.
In January 1848, James Marshall had a work crew
camped on the American River at Coloma near Sacramento, California. The crew was building a sawmill
for John Sutter. On that cold, clear morning of January 24, Marshall found a few tiny gold nuggets.
Thus began one of the largest (and quickest) human
migrations in history as more than 300,000 people
from the rest of the United States and around the
world descended upon California in search of instant
John Sutter
The first printed notice of the discovery was in the March 15th issue of The Californian in
San Francisco. Shortly after Marshall’s discovery, General John Bidwell discovered gold in the
Feather River and Major Pearson B. Reading found gold in the Trinity River. The Gold Rush
was soon in full swing.
In 1849, quartz mining began at the Mariposa mine in Mariposa County. Gold deposits were
often found in quartz veins. In 1850, gold-bearing quartz was found at Gold Hill in Grass
Valley. This led to the development of the great underground mines in that district and a major industry that continued for more than 100 years.
In 1851, gold was discovered in the Greenhorn Creek, Karen County. This discovery led to
the rush to the upper Kern River region. By 1852, California’s annual gold production
reached a then all-time high of $81 million.
In the span of six years, San Francisco grew from a small port town of 200 in
1848 to 36,000 by 1852. Along with this rapid growth came new problems
including attacks on Native Americans (driving many away from their tribal
lands), legal issues (staking claims), and environmental issues with the use of
hydraulic methods to extract gold (this dumped heavy metals, among other
things, into many of the surrounding waterways and ground). By the mid
1850s, the gold fields were mined by companies rather than individual miners.
One business that began by selling denim to the miners is still with us today;
Levi Strauss.
Levi Strauss
The Gold Rush changed California from a sleepy Mexican territory into the 31st state with
the now largest population and one of the biggest state economies in the United States. The
state motto is “Eureka!”, Gold Rush images are on the state seal and it is known as the
“golden state”.
2
The song Oh Susanna! was written by Stephen Foster and published in 1848. Stephen Collins Foster was born on July 4, 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. He attended
a private academy in Athens, Pennsylvania (among others) and as a teen, studied with Henry Kleber (a classically trained musician). He was also influenced by entertainer and minstrel Dan Rice.
In 1846, Stephen moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he worked
as a bookkeeper for his brother’s company. While in Cincinnati, Stephen composed Oh! Susanna but it was returning to Pennsylvania
and his partnership with the Christy Minstrels that proved to be the
most productive. Between 1850 and 1854, Foster would compose
Camptown Races (1850), Nelly Bly (1850), Swanee River (1851), and My Old
Kentucky Home (1853) among others.
Oh! Susanna became an anthem of the Forty-Niners who
changed the original words to be “traveling to California with a washStephen Foster
pan on my knee.”
I come from Alabama with my Banjo on my knee—
And I’m goin’ to Lou’siana my true love for to see.
It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry;
The sun so hot I froze to death—Susanna, don’t you cry.
Chorus:
Oh! Susanna, Oh, don’t you cry for me;
I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee.
The 1850s were a time of expansion and growth in the United States. As people began to
move West, in part due to the perceived riches in California, their cultural heritage moved
with them. During this decade, music and the arts gained footholds in many
communities and schools. The first public school music education programs were launched in Cleveland, Ohio and San Francisco, California in
1851. In 1857, music education in the primary grades at public schools were
first introduced in Louisville, Kentucky.
Famous singers including Jenny Lind and former
slave Elizabeth Greenfield (aka the Black Swan) were touring the United States as well as many minstrel groups. Community brass bands were also springing up in large and small
Jenny Lind
towns across the country.
The economy was booming as the country expanded and the
South’s cotton production was flourishing. As Texas was annexed in 1845,
this opened up potentially new cotton producing land. The production of
Elizabeth Greenfield
cotton was hard on the land so new land was needed as the demand for
cotton was high both nationally and internationally. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the North and railroads were starting to connect the nation; first with short lines
and eventually with the Transcontinental Railroad completed in 1869.
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The United States population grew dramatically with a large influx of immigrants to
fill many of the industrial jobs in the North. More than 4 million immigrants came to the
United States in the decade prior to the Civil War.
The acquisitions of new territories (Texas and California in particular) renewed the
concern over the issue of slavery. In particular, would these new territories/states be free
states or slave states? Attempts were made in the 1850s to address the issue of slavery with
multiple legislation including the Compromise of 1850 (sponsored by Kentucky’s Henry
Clay) and the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. While slavery was not the only issue, it was certainly a flashpoint that divided the country between North and South. Northern states were
typically more industrialized while Southern states operated on a more plantation system
that relied on slavery for the cotton crops. Up until Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton
gin in 1793, cotton required a huge number of man hours to clean and separate the fibers
from the seeds. As the cotton gin eliminated this issue, cotton became a profitable crop and
as the Southern plantation system rapidly expanded and the demand for cotton sky rocketed
in Europe and the United States, so did the need for vast plantations. The South’s economy
relied on these plantations and the plantations had slaves to work the cotton fields.
But it was the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 that was the tipping point for
seven Southern slave states to secede from the Union. The stage was set for the Civil War.
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Essential Questions:




How did the Gold Rush change the United States; economy, travel, developing new business?
Are there other songs that people have used as inspiration to move around the country?
Stephen Foster was a uniquely American composer; who are some other American composers from the 1850s?
How did the cotton gin change the economy of raising cotton?
ENRICHMENT/EXTENSION ideas:
For more information on the Gold Rush:
http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/goldrush.html
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/californiagoldrush.htm
On Stephen Foster: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/
Gold: http://www.space.com/22014-was-earth-s-gold-formed-by-colliding-stars-video.html
Cotton gin and Eli Whitney: http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli
-whitney
4
The Election of Abraham Lincoln—Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness
While there were several men on the ballot for the presidential election of 1860, it was Abraham Lincoln who won the job on November 6,
1860. With Lincoln’s election, many Southern states believed he would
abolish slavery and destroy not only their economy but their way of life.
By December, South Carolina had seceded from the Union and six other
states quickly followed; Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
and Texas. They formed the Confederate States of America.
On April 12, 1861, hostilities broke out with the Confederate attack
on Fort Sumter signaling the beginning of the American Civil War. Lincoln asked for
volunteer troops from other states to march to Fort Sumter, prompting another four
southern states to secede. The seeds of this Civil War began in the earliest days of America with many of the Founding Fathers disagreeing with slavery. But to pass the necessary
documentation for liberty, they had to concede to the southern state representatives on the
topic of slavery. By Lincoln’s election 85 years later, the seeds had grown to a full blown
contentious disagreement on the subject of slavery in America.
Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Out of the wilderness, out of the wilderness,
Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Many long years ago
Chorus: Many long years ago, many long years ago,
Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Many long years ago
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Essential questions:
 Why was Lincoln’s election the tipping point for Southern states?
 Who else was on the ballot for the 1860 Presidential race?
 Where is the “wilderness” referred to in the song?
ENRICHMENT/EXTENSION ideas:
Learn more about Abraham Lincoln: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/
abrahamlincoln
The election of 1860: http://www.ushistory.org/us/32d.asp
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/elections/election1860.html
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The first year—Dixie, Battle Cry of Freedom
Many in the United States thought that the war would be over quickly (both sides thinking they would win). The first major test for the Eastern theater would be in
July 1861 in Manassas, Virginia. Sometimes referred to as the First Battle of
Bull Run or First Manassas, the Confederates beat back the Union troops
who had to retreat to Washington DC. The Union was alarmed by the defeat
and Congress quickly passed a resolution saying that the war was being fought
to preserve the Union, not to end slavery. This was an attempt to keep more
slave states from seceding. This battle also introduced the country to Confederate General Thomas Jackson, better known as “Stonewall”.
Major General George McClellan took charge of the Army of the Po- Stonewall Jackson
tomac (defenders of Washington DC and primarily located in the Eastern
theater) but major challenges lay ahead. After Manassas, the country realized this was not going to be quick conflict and both sides braced themselves for the long and bloody road ahead.
In the Western theater, the Confederates were not
doing as well as in the East. Kentucky was not only a
border state but had stated it was neutral (Kentucky was
considered part of the Western theater) and became a
battleground between North and South. In September
1861, Leonidas Polk sent Confederate troops to occupy
Columbus, Kentucky but this caused the Kentucky legislators to call for federal aid. Leaders of these Union
troops also gained fame including Major General William T. Sherman and future President of the Union
Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman
States, Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant.
By the end of the first year, both sides had songs that became identified as Union or
Confederate. The song Dixie came out of the 1850s blackface minstrel shows and quickly became popular across the country. Most credit Daniel Decatur Emmett with composing the
song (although there have been challenges over the years as to whether or not he composed it
by himself) and Dixie became the de facto anthem of the Confederacy.
Battle Cry of Freedom (also known as Rally Round the Flag) was composed in 1862
by George Frederick Root and supported the Union cause. Both songs were also adapted by
the other side (with alternate lyrics) to support their own causes.
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Essential questions:
 Why was it important to have songs that identified with both the Confederate and Union
causes?
 Are there current songs that help identify with a particular political viewpoint?
ENRICHMENT/EXTENSION ideas: Battle Cry of Freedom and Dixie
For a brief overview of the war: http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-waroverview/overview.html
6
The Songs of Slavery—Go Down, Moses
Before we delve further into the Civil War, as it was a central issue to the conflict, let’s take a moment to look
at the history of slavery in the United States.
In 1641, Massachusetts becomes the first colony to recognize slavery as legal and by 1750, all thirteen British
North American colonies have some legal form of slavery. By the time of the American Revolutionary War,
about 25% of the population owned slaves in some capacity with pockets in farming areas of New York and
New Jersey. A vast majority of African slaves were in the southern colonies of Maryland and Virginia working
the tobacco fields and in South Carolina and Georgia working the rice fields. By the time of the Revolutionary
War, a majority of the black population had been born in America rather than Africa and had become Christian.
Two prominent black citizens, both born in Africa, came to the forefront as they began to tell their stories of enslavement (first in Africa then to America), their journeys
across the Middle Passage, and then eventual freedom: Olaudah Equiano (Gustavas
Vassa) and Venture Smith.
Olaudah Equiano was born in Benin and was captured at the age of 11. He was
taken to the west coast of Africa then across the Atlantic to Barbardos. But there was
no buyer for him so he then went to Virginia where he eventually became the property of Michael Henry Pascal, a lieutenant in the British Royal Navy. For seven years, Equiano traveled with Pascal, and worked on his ships. He eventually moved to England and was able to educate himself. He was able
to buy his freedom and began working in the trade business, first in the West Indies, then in London where he
became a staunch abolitionist (anti-slavery activist). In 1789, he published his autobiography The Interesting
Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. He died in 1797.
Venture Smith was also born in Africa (Guinea) and was captured at the age of
8. He was brought to America where he grew in stature and legend in New
England. It was reported that he was extremely tall and well over 300 pounds.
He was able to purchase his freedom in 1765 and continued to work to free his
entire family. In 1798, his autobiography (as told to a local school teacher) was
published: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But
Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America, Related by Himself.
Another prominent African who became an American was Phillis Wheatley.
Image Credit: The Connecticut
Historical Society, Hartford
She was born in West Africa and came to Boston aboard a slave ship in 1761.
She was purchased by John Wheatley as a servant for his wife. However Phillis was a
quick study and learned to speak English and read the Bible quickly. The Wheatleys
encouraged her to study theology and literary classics. Phillis published her first book
of poetry in 1773 and was emancipated by the Wheatleys the same year. She married
in 1778 and died in 1784 before she could publish her second book of poetry.
Tensions between Britain and America spilled over in the 1770 Boston Massacre.
Those killed in the massacre included the first black man to die in the Revolutionary
War, Crispus Attucks. The eventual second President of the United States, John
Adams, defended and successfully acquitted the British soldiers accused of firing on the crowd without provocation.
Image Credit: Courtesy Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston
For more information on the Boston Massacre and Crispus Attucks, check out this link: http://
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p25.html
7
With the Declaration of Independence (1776), America was officially at war with Britain. Britain actively
recruited slaves to fight and since freedom was often more important than the ideology behind the war, many
slaves did fight on the side of the Crown. However at least 5,000 fought in the Continental Army under the
command of George Washington including Prince Hall and Agrippa Hull. Over the next six years, it is estimated that thousands African Americans died in the conflict. In 1782, a provisional treaty was signed by Britain and America giving the colonists their freedom and ending the war. One of the sticking points of this treaty was the return of American “property” that included the slaves who had joined the British cause (also considered Loyalists). Some of these former slaves were returned to slavery in the Caribbean. Others were able to
evacuate from New York to Canada, Jamaica and Britain through the efforts of Brigadier General Samuel
Birch. He was able to create a list (The Book of Negroes) of three to four thousand black Loyalists who were
allowed to leave New York when the British evacuated the city.
The Founding Fathers worked on the new Constitution of the United States of America but ran into the
slavery problem when dealing with the southern states. Many in the north now felt that slavery was wrong but
the southern states continued to assert the importance of slavery to maintain the large agricultural tracts of tobacco, cotton and rice. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a concession to the southern states: "An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters," that authorized the
arrest or seizure of fugitives and empowered "any magistrate of a county, city or town" to rule on the matter.
The act further established a fine of $500 against any person who aided a fugitive (from Africans in America,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h62.html). This did not sit well with many of the Founding Fathers
including George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Adams in particular found slavery abhorrent. His sentiments on the subject of slavery are well known. They are well summed up in the language of
a letter to Robert I. Evans, June 1819: "Every measure of prudence, therefore, ought to be assumed for the
eventual total extirpation of slavery from the United States. I have, through my whole life, held the practice of
slavery in such abhorrence, that I have never owned a negro or any other slave; though I have lived for many
years in times when the practice was not disgraceful; when the best men in my vicinity thought it not inconsistent with their character; and when it has cost me thousands of dollars of the labor and subsistence of free
men, which I might have saved by the purchase of negroes at times when they were very cheap."—Works of
John Adams, vol., p. 380. (from on-line World Book From Africa to America, http://www.worldbook.com/
wb/Students?content_spotlight/aajourney/africa.
Northern states like Massachusetts adopted new state constitutions that borrowed language from the Declaration of Independence stating that “all men are created equal”. Some slaves in these states were able to sue for
their emancipation based on this language. For those in the south, slavery flourished with almost one million
still in bondage and the numbers kept growing as the new country spread west. By the turn of the 19th century, the groundwork for the Civil War was laid and the path towards freedom for many slaves became the dangerous journey north.
The music of this period continued to develop as part of the work day. According to
Frederick Douglass “Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work. A
silent slave is not liked by masters or overseers. This may account for the almost
constant singing heard in the southern states. There was, generally, more or less singing among the teamsters, as it was one means of letting the overseer know where
they were, and that they were moving on with the work.” (From Sinful Tunes and Spirituals, Black Folk Music to the Civil War, Epstein, pg. 162).
8
One of the many ways owners controlled their slaves was to sell off the children to other plantations. By 1830,
there were an estimated 2 million slaves in the United States, almost one sixth of the population of the United
States at the time.
The songs of slavery are part of a vast collection of music called “spirituals”. The word “spirituals” has become more closely associated with African American song but originally meant a spiritual person or thing, not
necessarily a genre of music. The origin of the African American spiritual can be traced to the intentional conversion of the enslaved African population in America. Many of the slave owners felt that by converting the
Africans to Christianity, this would not only break their ties to African tradition but would teach them to be
long suffering and obedient. However it was the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt (crossing the Jordan river to escape slavery under the Pharaoh) that had resonance among these new Christians. And by using
a Biblical analogy in song, slaves were now able to communicate with each other about the way to freedom.
The song Go Down, Moses was a nod to the biblical Exodus from Egypt.
As slavery grew, so did the anti-slavery movement (Abolition). Even as early as the 1680s, Pennsylvania
Quakers were vehemently anti-slavery claiming it wrong on moral grounds. As mentioned earlier, many of the Founding Fathers, including those who owned slaves like
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, spoke out against slavery. It should be noted that George Washington noted in his will that his slaves would be freed after his
wife, Martha, died and he also left provisions in his will for the continued care and education of his former slaves (http://www.mountvernon.org/learn/meet_george/
index.cfm/ss/101/).
In 1820, the Missouri Compromise tried to regulate slavery in the western territories
and prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of parallel 36º 30' north. This
also included the inclusion of Maine as a free state and Missouri as a
slave state. Henry Clay, a representative from Kentucky, is often
credited with this compromise. This compromise
remained in existence until it was undone in 1854
with the Kansas-Nebraska act. Politicians were
split on the Kansas-Nebraska act and opponents of
the act from the Democratic and Whig parties created a new party; the Republicans.
Near the end of the 18th century, an organized group of abolitionists began helping slaves
run away from their masters, typically from the south to the north. By 1831, this system was
dubbed The Underground Railroad after the emerging steam engines. It is estimated be- Henry Clay of Kentween 1810 and 1850, over 100,000 slaves made the journey via the Underground Railroad. tucky
Since most slaves could not read or write, they had to communicate information in other ways. Code hidden
in songs and quilts became the most popular way for slaves to communicate with each other about the best
way to escape.
For code songs, Biblical phrases, characters or places were used to communicate ways for the slaves to escape
and find their way to the promised land. Wade in the Water and Swing Low Sweet Chariot were favorites
of perhaps the most famous of all the Underground Railroad conductors, Harriet Tubman.
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She never lost a passenger; Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross) was born in Maryland around 1820. As a
child, she worked the plantation, both in the house and the fields. As a teenager, she
received a traumatic blow to the head (while protecting another slave) that plagued her
for the rest of her life. She married John Tubman (she took his last name and changed
her first name to Harriet in honor of her mother) in 1844 and by 1849 had decided to
run away for fear that she was going to be sold. She set out on her journey at night,
aided by a friendly white woman, and eventually made her way to Pennsylvania and to
Philadelphia where she worked and saved her money. By 1860, she had made 19 trips
into the south to rescue members of her family and other slaves longing for freedom.
She often used the code songs like Wade in the Water and Swing Low Sweet Chariot as a way to communicate. Wade in the Water told slaves to use the water as a means
of throwing off their scent to tracking dogs. Swing Low Sweet Chariot told slaves that the
Underground Railroad (or Chariot) would be coming soon to take them to freedom.
Harriet became known as “Moses” and Frederick Douglass said, "Excepting John Brown
-- of sacred memory -- I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and
hardships to serve our enslaved people than [Harriet Tubman]."
And John Brown, who conferred with "General Tubman" about his plans to raid Harpers Ferry, once said that she was "one of the bravest persons on this continent" (these
quotes and pictures from PBS’ Africans in America). During the Civil War, Harriet
worked as a nurse, a cook and even a spy for the Union. After the war, she settled in
Auburn, New York where she died in 1913.
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Essential Questions:
 Why was slavery so crucial to the cotton/plantation economy?
 In what ways did slaves communicate with each other to deliver information about escaping? How did
they use music?
ENRICHMENT/EXTENSION ideas:
For more information on Harriet Tubman, check out these web sites:
PBS Africans in America: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html
The Library of Congress: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/tubman
Harriet Tubman.com
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center: http://www.freedomcenter.org/
10
Go Down, Moses
The spiritual Go Down, Moses had its origins earlier than the Civil War but the composer is unknown. The title refers to a biblical verse in Exodus 7:26: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me". In 1872, the Fisk University Jubilee singers, a group made up of mostly former slaves, published the song with the following
verse/chorus:
When Israel was in Egypt’s land
Let my people go,
Oppress’d so hard they could not stand
Let my people go.
Chorus: Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh,
Let my people go.
Go Down, Moses is performed as a call and response, a style of spiritual. The leader sings the first
lines and then the response is from the rest of the group. In this case, the group always sings “Let my people
go.” The song is a metaphor for slavery in the American South. Israel refers to the slaves and “down in
Egypt’s land” is the South. The reference to “down” also refers to down the Mississippi river as plantations
further south were notoriously worse for slaves (also the origins of the phrase being “sold down the river”).
The Ohio River and its impact on slavery, music and Kentucky
The Ohio River is the largest tributary of the mighty Mississippi River. At approximately 981 miles long, some of the largest Midwest
and upper south cities lie along its banks. The Ohio River begins in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. The river journeys along the borders of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. The river joins the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. Its name comes from the Iroquois word “O
-Y-O” meaning “great river”.
All the way back to 13,000 BC, people have lived along the Ohio River. Outside of Native Americans, the “discovery” of the Ohio River
is given credit to René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a
French explorer. He named the river “la belle riviere” or “the beautiful river”. In approximately 1669, La Salle reached the Ohio River
This is a map of the Ohio River Watershed. Karl and followed it to present day Louisville, Kentucky where he encounMusser, created it based on USGS data.
tered the only physical barrier issue along the Ohio River, The Falls
of the Ohio (a series of rapids where the river drops by 26 feet over 2
miles). He also found the Mississippi River and claimed the entire basin for the King of France.
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Because the Ohio River flows west towards the Mississippi, it became used by pioneers as a means to move
westward out of the Appalachians into the new territories. Many chose to settle along the river founding the
modern cities of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Louisville to name a few. Settlers were not the only ones to use
the Ohio River as a means of transportation. Merchants (and eventually pirates) used the river to move cargo
from Pennsylvania down to the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans, Louisiana via the Ohio and Mississippi. Folk
tales grew along the Ohio River beginning with the keelboaters and Mike Fink. Fink makes numerous appearances throughout literature but is perhaps best known for his appearance in two of the Disney Davy
Crockett series opposite Fess Parker. Pirates like Samuel Mason and his gang also became legendary as they
became known for stealing, murder and scuttling boats. These pirates used chains at narrow parts of the river
like Cave-in-rock, Illinois (near Paducah, Kentucky) to raid the boats.
In 1787, the invention of the steamboat by John Fitch changed transportation in America. Every water way
was now available for transportation of goods and some passengers. Until the
completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1868, the cheapest way to move
goods was via these waterways including the Ohio River. This increased the
need for a port at New Orleans which led to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
That same year, explorers Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark began organizing their expedition at
the Falls of the Ohio. The Ohio River also became the boundary between slaves
states in the south and free states in the north although Kentucky remained technically neutral and never seceded from the Union. But there were slaves in Kentucky and runaway slaves were not considered free or safe until they had crossed
the Ohio River. The river is often referred to as the “River Jordan” in many spirituals and code songs.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
The expression “sold down the river” came into being as the slave trade, like meeting at the falls of the Ohio
other commodities, made use of the Ohio River and it’s access to the Mississip- River; statue at the Falls of the Ohio
State Park in Clarksville, Indiana
pi. In fact, by the 1820s, nearly 26% of Kentucky’s population were slaves. By
the beginning of the Civil War, this percentage decreased dramatically to about 7% but up through the 1850s
between 2500 and 4000 slaves were sold annually through Louisville. Being “sold down the river” literally
meant being sold and transported down the Ohio to the Mississippi to the slave markets in New Orleans. Today in Louisville at Second Street and Main, there is a plaque discussing the slave trade from the Louisville
wharf.
In 1841, Abraham Lincoln saw one such transaction and relayed his dismay to his longtime friend, Joshua
Fry Speed. In a letter from 1855, Lincoln tells Speed “In 1841 you and I had together a tedious low-water trip
on a steamboat from Louisville to St. Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to the
mouth of the Ohio there were on board ten or a dozen slaves shackled together with irons. That sight was a
continued torment to me, and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio or any other slave border. It
is not fair for you to assume that I have no interest in a thing which
has, and continually exercises, the power of making me miserable.
You ought rather to appreciate how much the great body of the
Northern people do crucify their feelings, in order to maintain their
loyalty to the Constitution and the Union. I do oppose the extension
of slavery because my judgment and feeling so prompt me, and I am
under no obligations to the contrary.” (from http://
www.classicreader.com/book/3331/85/). Many believe that this
encounter in 1841 led Lincoln to write the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
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By the early 1900s, steam boats became known more as passenger vessels as the tugboats did the heavier work.
The Belle of Louisville, the last of her kind left in the United States, was built in 1914 (originally named the
Idlewild) as a short excursion boat. She has a 5 foot draw which means she can navigate any waterway that is at
least 5-6 feet deep. The steam boat musical culture revolved around these short excursions often advertised as
“Moonlite at 8:30” cruises for dinner and dancing. While there was still some racism aboard ship (many
black musicians experienced this), once the band started playing, it didn’t matter the race as long as the music
was good. And it wasn’t just good, it was great! Louis Armstrong began his career playing cornet aboard a
steamboat and for three summers earned $50 per week to support his family.
In addition to the districts and neighborhoods in and around New Orleans,
early jazz also developed aboard steamboats sailing out of the city. On the
Mississippi River, the S.S. Capitol and the Sidney were among the best-known
riverboats to feature jazz, and the S.S. Mandeville and the Susquehanna used
jazz to entertain passengers on excursions on Lake Pontchartrain
(information from The National Park Service web site).
Today, almost 180,000 tons of freight is moved along the Ohio River every
month. The Belle of Louisville continues its short excursions and every
once in a while, you can heard her calliope playing along the banks of the
Ohio.
Music as propaganda; Bonnie Blue Flag, Maryland, My Maryland,
Kentucky! O Kentucky!
The second year of the war was 1862 and saw some of the bloodiest battles in U.S. military history including
Second Battle of Bull Run/Second Manassas (August 28-30), Battle of Antietam (September 5), as well
as a battle in Perryville, Kentucky (October 8). The toll on the country was becoming more apparent with
the numbers of dead and wounded climbing dramatically. Morale for both the troops and the folks at home
needed a boost and music played a role in not only bolstering pride but also propaganda against the other side.
In 1861, the Bonnie Blue Flag became an unofficial flag of the Confederates and entertainer Harry McCarthy wrote the words and set them to an Irish tune called The Irish
Jaunting Car. The song quickly became a marching song for Confederate troops and like
many songs of the day, there was a Union version as well.
Also in 1861, poet and professor James Ryder Randall (a native Marylander) learned of
the death of his friend during the April 1861 Baltimore riots. As a reaction, Randall wrote the nine-stanza poem “Maryland, my Maryland” urging his home state to secede from the Union. The poem was set to music
to the tune of O Tannenbaum and became popular throughout the Confederacy. The state of Maryland adopted the song as the official state song in 1939.
Kentucky! O Kentucky! adopted the tune of Maryland, my Maryland as a way to warn Kentucky residents
not to side with General John Hunt Morgan as he led his band of night raiders into Kentucky (1862).
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Rallying the Union—Battle Hymn of the Republic and John Brown’s Body
One year after the attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln signed the Abolition of slavery in Washington D.C. law.
This freed 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia and paid one million dollars in compensation to their owners.
On July 22, 1862, the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation was read
by Lincoln to his cabinet. This historic event was captured by painter Francis Bicknell Carpenter and now hangs in the U.S. Capitol over the west staircase in the
Senate wing.
On September 22, 1862, a revised Emancipation Proclamation was issued and published by several Northern newspapers the next day. In this version, it was stated
“That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part
of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States,
shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of
the United States [including the military and naval authority thereof] will
recognize [and maintain the freedom of] such persons, and will do not act
or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may
make for their actual freedom.” The final version was enacted on January 1, 1863 (information and text from the book Abraham Lincoln and the
Emancipation Proclamation by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American
History).
After the Proclamation and with some prompting from black leaders like
Frederick Douglass (two of his sons served during the Civil War), black recruitment and volunteers soared.
The government established the Bureau of Colored Troops to manage these new soldiers. These soldiers
still faced discrimination within the military and were not as heavily used in combat although there were many
who fought in major campaigns. Perhaps best known are the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts volunteers
who lost two-thirds of their officers and half of their troops on the July 1863 assault on Fort Wagner, South
Carolina. This heroic assault was captured in the movie Glory with Denzel Washington (in his Oscar winning
role), Morgan Freeman, Matthew Broderick and Cary Elwes. By the end of the Civil War, over 179,000 black
men served in the U.S. Army (about 10% of the total number of soldiers) with another 19,000 serving in the
Navy. Nearly 40,000 died in battle or of disease. Black women served in non-combat capacities like nursing,
scouting or as spies (Harriet Tubman being the most famous).
The Battle Hymn of the Republic has its origins in the 1856 with William Steffe who collected and edited a
camp meeting song with the “Glory, glory, hallelujah” refrain. The original lyrics started with “Say, brothers
will you meet us on Canaan’s happy shore?”. The Union Army soon took up the song but added different lyrics. In fact, there have been several sets of lyrics prior to Julia Ward Howe’s most famous version. The first
set of lyrics for John Brown’s Body came courtesy of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia.
There was a Scotsman named John Brown in this militia (the famous John Brown of Harper’s Ferry had died
two years earlier) and the lyrics were meant as a joke. But as the song became more popular and many used
the more famous John Brown as a rallying cry, the lyrics changed again to reflect that. Many black soldiers
sang the song as they marched.
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Hearing this song during a public review of the troops, Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) was
told by her friend, Reverend James Clarke, that she should write new lyrics for the song.
That evening Mrs. Howe went to bed and in her own words "I went to bed that night as
usual, and slept, according to my wont, quite soundly. I awoke 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 again and forget them.' So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of 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. At this time, having completed my writing, I returned to bed and fell asleep, saying to
myself ‘I like this better than most things I have written.’" (from Reminiscences by Julia Ward
Howe 1819-1899).
In 1862, the Atlantic Monthly published Mrs. Howe’s version and its fame has only increased through the
years. Dr. Martin Luther King often referred to the lyrics in many of his speeches, John Steinbeck took the
title of THE GRAPES OF WRATH from the song, both political parties have used the song at their conventions and it is often played at Presidential inaugurations. Mrs. Howe’s words continue to inspire future generations.
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 fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
Chorus: Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
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Essential Questions:
 Can you find all the versions of this song? Why are the lyrics different depending on the version?
 Can you find other movies about the Civil War in addition to Glory? Do they show a glamorous or realistic
version of the war?
 What was the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation on the slaves? On the country?
ENRICHMENT/EXTENSION ideas:
For more information on Julia Ward Howe, check out the following web sites:
http://www.juliawardhowe.org/
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/battlehymn-original.htm
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Marching songs—The Yellow Rose of Texas
Popular songs of the day were also adopted by soldiers to help ease
their daily lives, and marching from location to location could be difficult.
The first unpublished version of the song The Yellow Rose of Texas is
from 1836 (handwritten and currently in the Center for American History
at the University of Texas) with the first published version in 1858. Folklore has it that the song is based on a woman, Emily D. West, who helped
bring about the fall of General Antonio López de Santa Anna and
thereby winning the Battle of San Jacinto. West was a beautiful biracial
woman who had been kidnapped by the Mexican army and had caught the
eye of Santa Anna. Rumor has it that Santa Anna was caught unawares
General Antonio López de Santa
Anna
during the attack by Texas forces led by Sam Houston—distracted by
West. Whether it’s true or not, it’s a great story and the legend of Emily
West lives on in the song about her.
Texas Confederate troops took up the song as they marched and altered the words as
did other troops depending on where they called home. The song became a hit again with
Mitch Miller’s recording in 1955. The most common lyrics are below.
There's a yellow rose in Texas, That I am going to see,
Nobody else could miss her, Not half as much as me.
She cried so when I left her It like to broke my heart,
And if I ever find her, We nevermore will part.
She's the sweetest little rosebud That Texas ever knew,
Her eyes are bright as diamonds, They sparkle like the dew;
You may talk about your Clementine, And sing of Rosalee,
But the YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS Is the only girl for me.
The price of war—Home, Sweet Home, The Drummer Boy of Shiloh
By the end of 1862, the country had been at war for almost two years
and the price was high. Thousands had been killed or wounded and the end
seemed nowhere in sight. But sometimes common ground could be found
even after defeat. One such story comes after the December 1862 Battle of
Fredericksburg on the banks of the Rappahannock River in Virginia. General Robert E. Lee’s forces (Confederate Army of Northern Virginia) and
Major General Ambrose Burnside’s forces (Union Army of the Potomac)
had been fighting for four days. It was perhaps one of the most lopsided
battles of the war with General Lee’s entrenched forces overwhelming the
Union army. Union casualties more than doubled the number of Confeder-
General Robert E. Lee
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ate casualties.
At the end of the battle, all the units that had been involved settled along the river before their next campaign. As each unit had a band that traveled with them, a “battle of the
bands” followed—this was a fairly common occurrence with each band trying to outdo the
other. This particular night on December 15, 1862, one of the bands played Home, Sweet
Home (a tune that was familiar to all). The other side’s band responded with the same version.
Then all up and down the Rappahannock River, all the units’ bands played Home, Sweet
Home together as the men sang. Reports of this event stated that men on both sides wept as
they sang of their homes far away.
The song itself was composed in 1823 by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by
American John Howard Payne for the opera CLARI, OR THE MAID OF MILAN. The melody
has been used by other composers to elicit memories of home including opera composer
Gaetano Donizetti who used it in his 1830 ANNA BOLENA during her mad scene in Act 2, Scene 3 as she longs for home.
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which seek thro' the world, is ne'er met elsewhere.
Home! Home!
Sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home
There's no place like home!
Between April 6-7, 1862 in the Western theater, the Battle of
Shiloh (Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was waged in southwestern
Tennessee. Ulysses S. Grant’s Union forces (Army of the Tennessee) were encamped at Pittsburg Landing along the Tennessee River
when Confederate forces led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T.
Beauregard launched a surprise attack. After the first day, Confederate forces seemed to be winning however Union reinforcements arrived and the Confederates were defeated. It was the single costliest
battle at the time with more than 3,600 dead, more than 16,000
wounded and almost 3,000 missing and/or captured. To put this I
perspective, the total of more than 23,000 dead, wounded or missing/capture exceeded the combined casualties of the American
Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War Unfortunately,
greater carnage was to come.
The importance of music to the troops has already been mentioned but perhaps more
unsung musical heroes of the war were in the young drummer boys. Many young boys were
recruited as drummers for as drums were an important part of military communication on the
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battlefield with various drum rolls signaling different commands from officers to their troops. This had been a longstanding tradition throughout
Western civilization and America continued the tradition. The youngest
drummer boy for the American Revolution was Nathan Futrell who
joined the North Carolina Continental Militia at the age of 7. The tradition was continued into the American Civil War. The youngest soldier
killed in the war was the drummer boy Charles King. He volunteered for
the 49th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at the age of 12 and died from
injuries suffered at the Battle of Antietam. He was 13.
One of the many Civil War drummer boys was Johnny Clem who
John Clem
at age 9 had unofficially joined a Union Army regiment. He became
known as the Drummer Boy of Chickamauga when he played a “long roll” and shot a
Confederate officer for demanding his surrender.
The original Drummer Boy of Shiloh may have been Louis Edward Rafield of the
21st Alabama Infantry, Co. K. Louis had enlisted at age 11 and at the Battle of Shiloh he lost
his drum; he obtained an enemy drum and kept on going, thus earning the title. John Clem
may also have a claim to this title but we may never know who earned the title.
Louisville composer William Shakespeare Hays wrote the song The Drummer Boy of
Shiloh in 1863.
On Shiloh's dark and bloody ground,
The dead and wounded lay;
Amongst them was a drummer boy,
Who beat the drum that day.
A wounded soldier helped him up-His drum was by his side;
He clasp'd his hands, then he rais'd his eyes,
And prayed before he died.
He clasp'd his hands, then he rais'd his eyes,
And prayed before he died.
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Essential Questions:
 How was music used to bring opposing sides together?
 How was music used to share the suffering and price of war?
 Can you find other examples of drummer boys that were used throughout the world?
ENRICHMENT/EXTENSION ideas:
William Shakespeare Hays
Washington Post article on Civil War Drummer Boys
Johnny Clem
Drum Beats of the Drummer Boys (lesson plan for grades 4-8)
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Prisoners of war—Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!
Both Union and Confederate sides took prisoners of war during the Civil War with estimates at more than 410,000. Up until 1863, both sides relied on the European based tradition
of parole and exchange for prisoners of war. The prisoner on parole promised not to fight
again, his name was put on a list and then exchanged for a similar soldier on the other side.
The system broke down in 1863 when the Confederates refused to treat captured black soldiers the same as captured white soldiers. Then the prisoner of war population rose dramatically and many camps were unable to properly feed or care for these captured soldiers. Disease
was rampant and depending on the camp, death rates could be high as well. Perhaps the most
notorious of these camps was in Andersonville, Georgia. Undersupplied with food, many of
the prisoners suffered (and died) from scurvy cause by vitamin C deficiency. Of the total
45,000 prisoners housed at Andersonville during the course of the war, almost 13,000 died.
The camp was liberated in May 1865. The commandant of the inner stockade at Camp Sumter (also known as Andersonville Prison), Henry Wirz, was tried and convicted as a war criminal and hanged on November 10, 1865.
Composer George F. Root composed the song Tramp! Tramp!
Tramp! (The Prisoner’s Hope) in 1864 to give hope to Union prisoners
of war.
In the prison cell I sit,
Thinking Mother dear, of you,
And our bright and happy home so far away,
And the tears they fill by eyes
Spite of all that I can do,
Tho’ I try to cheer my comrades and be gay.
George F. Root
Chorus: Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching
Cheer up comrades they will come,
And beneath the starry flag
We shall breathe the air again,
Of the free land in our own beloved home.
Using humor to boost the morale of troops—Goober Peas
As the war dragged on and the casualties grew, using humor in songs helped the troops
cope with their homesickness as well as dealing with their daily life struggles. One song in particular was a favorite with Confederate soldiers. Goober peas (or boiled peanuts) were often
used as emergency rations so many Confederate soldiers’ diets consisted solely of goober peas.
Although the first published edition of the song was in 1866 (after the war), the song Goober
Peas was sung by many Confederate soldiers throughout the war.
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Sitting by the roadside on a summer’s day
Chatting with my mess-mates, passing time away
Lying in the shadows underneath the trees
Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas.
Chorus: Peas, peas, peas, peas
Eating goober peas
Goodness how delicious,
Eating goober peas.
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Essential Questions:
 Can you find other examples of songs used during wartime that were either humorous or
sentimental?
 What was the typical diet of a Civil War soldier (Confederate and Union)?
 Why were peanuts (goober peas) a staple in the diet of Civil War Confederate soldiers?
ENRICHMENT/EXTENSION ideas:
Civil War music
The American brass band movement
Hope for a safe return—When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
By the summer of 1863, hope waned for a quick end to the
war. A small town in southern Pennsylvania proved to be one of the
turning points of the war, favoring the Union. From July 1-3, 1863,
the little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania became a battleground
that would ultimately turn the tides of war. Major General George
Meade, now in charge of the Army of the Potomac (Union), defeated
General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee’s
attempt to invade the North. On the final day (July 3rd), the Confederates launched an all out assault against the center of the Union
line on Cemetery Ridge. This would become known as Pickett’s
Charge (named after one of the Confederate Major General George
Pickett) and was devastating to the Confederate army.
The casualties (dead, wounded, missing/captured) were staggering. In three days, the total casualties for both sides was almost 58,000. Four months later,
on November 19, 1863, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery was dedicated by President Abraham
Lincoln in what is perhaps one of the greatest (and shortest) speeches in history.
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“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We
have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave
their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above
our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated
here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of
devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
In September 1863, the lyrics to When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again were
written by Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore and were published under the pseudonym Louis Lambert (the original sheet music is housed at the Library of Congress). Gilmore
said he was inspired by his sister Annie as she prayed for the safe return of her fiancé. The
song became immensely popular on both sides as well as in England.
When Johnny comes marching home again
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give him a hearty welcome then
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out
And we'll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home.
After the victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln made Ulysses S. Grant the Commander of
all Union armies. Grant had led the western front of the war and many credit his tactical skills
(and victories) at Shiloh and Vicksburg as turning points of the war. With these victories,
Grant was able to secure control of the Mississippi River as well as driving Confederate forces
out of Tennessee, thus opening a route to Atlanta and eventually to the Atlantic. With Grant
in charge of the Union armies, he appointed Major General William Tecumseh Sherman as
leader of the western Union army. Their new strategy was called “total war” meaning that in
addition to civilian casualties, all possible resources for the Confederacy would be destroyed
(homes, farms, crops, machinery, etc.). Sherman began his “March to the Sea” from Chattanooga, Tennessee making his way through Georgia with the new “total war” policy. By the
time he reached Atlanta, almost 20% of Georgia’s farmland was destroyed. Atlanta fell on
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September 2, 1864 and Sherman continued his march to Savannah, reaching the city in December 1864. He and his army turned north to approach the Confederate line in Virginia, thus
trapping Robert E. Lee’s soldiers in between branches of the Union army.
Surrender and acceptance—The Blue and the Gray
On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia at the McLean
House in the village of Appomattox Court House. The war was over! But the country would
not be able to celebrate for long. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC (Lincoln died on the 15th from his injuries).
Wilkes Booth was not alone as two other conspirators were supposed to assassinate the Vice
President, Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State, William Seward. Seward sustained severe
injuries but survived the attack. Johnson’s assassin never showed up for the attempt. American poet Walt Whitman captured Americans’ profound sense of loss in his poem O Captain,
my Captain.
There was a long way to go to re-build America. Total loss in life due to the war and
disease was over 1 million (both military and civilian). The south was in complete disarray and
recovery from the “total war” campaign waged by the Union Army seemed impossible.
One year later, in Columbus, Mississippi, a group of women honored the dead by tending the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers, treating them as equals. This simple
act inspired poet Francis Miles Finch to write The Blue and the Gray, later set to music by
John Purifoy.
By the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray
Remembering—Two Brothers
In the notes to Smithsonian Folkways about songs from the Civil War, it notes that “the
Civil War played an instrumental role in the development of an American national identity.
Specifically for American folk music, the war inspired songwriting on both sides of the conflict, as amateurs and professionals wrote new, timely lyrics to old English, Scottish, and Irish
ballads as well as original compositions. Some of the popular songs are still well known today,
such as the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic.’”
The conflict inspired American song writer Irving Gordon to compose the song Two
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Brothers in 1951.
Two brothers on their way
Two brothers on their way
Two brothers on their way
One wore blue, and one wore grey
One wore blue and one wore grey
As they marched along the way
A fife and drum began to play
All on a beautiful morning
To learn more about the Civil War
http://www.history.com/content/civilwar
http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
http://www.alplm.org/
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/lcpoetry/cwvc.html
For Youtube clips: (Teachers make sure you preview ahead of time—especially the comments
section if you’re going to share the page with the class!)
Oh Susanna (James Taylor/Johnny Cash)
Dixie (Canadian Brass), Battle Cry of Freedom (soundtrack from Lincoln)
Go Down Moses (Paul Robeson)
Bonnie Blue Flag, Maryland, My Maryland (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
Battle Hymn of the Republic (U.S. Army chorus-2013)
The Yellow Rose of Texas (Mitch Miller)
Home, Sweet Home (Concert at Shiloh National Military Park), The Drummer Boy of Shiloh
(Antietam National Park)
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
Goober Peas (Burl Ives/Johnny Cash)
When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again (band version), vocals (Mitch Miller chorus)
The Blue and the Gray (Columbus Choral Society, Mississippi)
Two Brothers (The Lettermen)
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