[Later this
year, my next book, Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of
American Patriotism, will be published in Rowman &
Littlefield’s American Ways series. So this year’s July 4th
series, I wanted to highlight a few of the contested histories of American
patriotism that project includes. Leading up to a special weekend post on the
book itself!]
On three patriotic
layers to Julia Ward Howe’s influential Civil War anthem.
1)
Inspirations: As is pretty well-known, Howe
composed “Battle Hymn” (initially published
in the Atlantic Monthly in February
1862) by setting new lyrics to an existing tune: the music to “John
Brown’s Body,” a Civil War marching song that may in turn have been based
on William Steffe’s “Say,
Brothers/Canaan’s Happy Shore” (although there were and remain other
potential sources for “John Brown’s Body” as well, including ironically enough
the minstrel show songwriter
Thomas Brigham Bishop). Whatever the precise history of that evolving tune,
its role in Howe’s creation reflects her desire to link her new patriotic
anthem to both the history of abolitionism (and violence in service of that goal)
and the unfolding war. And her most immediate inspiration made those links even
clearer: it was after Howe and her husband, the reformer Samuel Gridley Howe,
visited President Abraham Lincoln in the White House in
November 1861 that she came up with the idea to compose a song of support
for Lincoln and the Union cause.
2)
Themes: One of the most interesting things about
“Battle Hymn” is also the reason why I define it (in my book’s Civil War
chapter) as a unique example of celebratory patriotism: that its
original lyrics do not explicitly mention America at all, focusing largely on
religious references, such as the famous opening line, “Mine eyes have seen the
glory of the coming of the Lord.” Those are interwoven with images of war that
are both symbolic (“His terrible swift sword”) and specific (“the watch-fires
of a hundred circling camps”). Yet the title links both war (Battle) and
religion (Hymn) to that American Republic, and in so doing turns the entire
song into a celebration of an idealized, blessed nation. Because of that
multi-layered link, the song’s most repeated phrase, “His truth is marching
on,” while certainly and centrally referring to God, likewise describes the
progress of Lincoln and the American cause in the Civil War. Indeed, Howe
envisions that national cause as nothing less than a holy text, as illustrated
by the third verse’s striking opening line, “I have read a fiery gospel writ in
burnished rows of steel.”
3)
Recruiting: Howe’s battle anthem wasn’t just
inspired by those rows of steel, however—it also helped inspire more of them. In
1863, for example, the Philadelphia-based Supervisory Committee for
Recruiting Colored Regiments re-published the “Battle Hymn” as a broadside,
seeing it as nothing short of a case for the enlistment and service of men in
those newly forming regiments. In my World War I chapter (on which more
tomorrow) I write about the most famous patriotic recruiting image in American history,
the James Montgomery Flagg “I
Want You” Uncle Sam poster. But given the vital importance of the Civil War
African American regiments, it’s fair to say that no recruitment effort was
ever more crucial than that one—and Howe’s patriotic anthem played a role in
that pivotal Civil War and American turning point.
Next patriotic
post tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other moments or stories of patriotism you’d highlight?
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