Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War

7. Fresh Strains for Fresh Developments: The End of the War and Its Music

{ 164 } CHAPTER 7 FRESH STRAINS FOR FRESH DEVELOPMENTS THE END OF THE WAR AND ITS MUSIC Bring the good old bugle, boys! we’ll sing another song— Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along— Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong, While we were marching through Georgia. Chorus “Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee! Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!” So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea, While we were marching through Georgia. How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound! How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found! How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground, While we were marching through Georgia. Chorus Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears, When they saw the honor’d flag, they had not seen for years; Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers, While we were marching through Georgia. Chorus “Sherman’s dashing Yankee boys will never reach the coast!” So the saucy rebels said, and ’twas a handsome boast, Had they not forgot, alas! to reckon with the host, While we were marching through Georgia. Chorus 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. Chorus —HENRY CLAY WORK, “Marching through Georgia,” 1865 Fresh Strains for Fresh Developments { 165 The final months of the Civil War inspired a renewed enthusiasm for music. Soldiers and civilians created and performed songs that anticipated the end of the war and tried to define what it had meant. This was especially so among northerners and African Americans, who made music one of the primary ways to celebrate the destruction of the Confederacyand the end of slavery. Manyof the songs sung earlier in the war gained added resonance as they were transformed from statements of purpose to declarations of victory. John Brown’s body had marched on to victory and preserved the Union forever. For the Confederates, the war’s end altered their music differently. Embittered and saddened by defeat, many former secessionists no longer wanted to hear the songs that had sounded so wonderfully inspiring in 1861. Some Confederates even speculated that the inferiority of their music had contributed to their defeat. Those who continued to perform Confederate songs were disappointed to find that the tunes had lost much of their power. After Appomattox, the music of the Civil War temporarily fell out of favor. In the North, new songs arose to reflect the postwar political and social climate and to construct narratives of how the war was fought and why. Confederates too created new songs that expressed theirattitudes toward Reconstruction and their memoryof thewar. African Americans fundamentallyaltered their music. Increasingly associating the “spiritual” style with slavery, blacks drifted away from such songs and borrowed more heavily from whites. Nevertheless, music remained an important part of how Americans remembered the Civil War, even if the performances of its songs declined. As Union soldiers completed theiroccupation of the South, they frequently performed their patriotic songs for Confederates and foreach other. Realizing that thewar was coming to an end, theyagain felt the enthusiasm of 1861, including a passion for music. Bandsman Frank Rauscher recalled that in the days preceding Appomattox, “our band was wanted everywhere, and the national airs were never before in such constant demand.”1 One of the most powerful signs of Union dominance was the physical occupation of a Confederate city. Throughout the war, such instances had inspired Union soldiers to perform songs that expressed loyalty to the United States and disdain for the Confederacy. In the final months of the war, these occasions became even more poignant. As Union troops marched into Charleston , they played “Hail Columbia” and one soldier observed how “the strains floated through the desolate city, awakening wild enthusiasm in the hearts of the colored people, who came rushing down the . . . streets to welcome us.” When marching into Columbia, South Carolina,Union bands played a series of 166 } Fresh Strains for Fresh Developments patriotic songs. One officer rejoiced that “John Brown’s Body” and “The Battle Cry of Freedom” “are now the familiar airs” in the state because they were performed so often. The emancipationist elements of northern victory were explicitly displayed as soldiers performed “John Brown’s Body” and...