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The Battle Hymn of the Republic

© John L. Hoh, Jr.

This last week, at the funeral of Ronald Reagan, we again heard The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Since this hymn has roots in the anti-slavery movement, which included the Underground Railroad, I thought I'd take this opportunity to explore this hymn and its author and the role the hymn has played in the history of the United States.

Interestingly, the funeral of Ronald Reagan wasn't the first funeral that the hymn was sung at. It was sung at the funerals of British statesman Winston Churchill and American senator Robert Kennedy. Ironically, it doesn't seem as if it were sung at Lincoln's funeral. Churchill is credited with fighting to free Europe from Nazi tyranny; Robert Kennedy was instrumental in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. President Reagan is credited with hastening the collapse of the Soviet empire and communism.

The Song

It appears that the song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," had an interesting start. Julia Ward Howe, together with her husband, was a volunteer for the Sanitation Commission. This commission oversaw prison conditions for prisoners of war, much as the Red Cross does today. This was a revolutionary idea since there was no Geneva Convention at the time.

President Abraham Lincoln invited the Howes to Washington because of their work with the commission. While in Washington the Howes visited a Union Army camp in Virginia. It was here that Julia heard soldiers sing a ditty about John Brown, the abolitionist who died at Harper's Ferry. John Brown had been hanged in 1859 for leading an attempted slave insurrection at Harper's Ferry. But the song mentioned that his cause still moved on.

Here there appears to be some confusion about the John Brown issue. About 1856 William Steffe of South Carolina wrote a camp-meeting song with the traditional "Glory Hallelujah" refrain. It started with the words "Say, brothers, will you meet us on Canaan's happy shore?" The tune had such an infectious swing that it became widely known. Early in the Civil War, a regiment stationed in Boston included a soldier named John Brown. This regiment used Steffe's tune to sing about the fiery John Brown of Kansas who shortly before had made his stand against slavery, but directed it as a jest toward their contemporary John Brown. This version, using the words "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on," soon became popular among the Union troops. (It appears the Confederates also had a song using the same tune, but I haven't been able to find any reference to the text. It is highly unlikely they would have praised John Brown, but no doubt they likely referred to John Brown in their tune and his demise.)