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diff --git a/old/66683-0.txt b/old/66683-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 31ce6c4..0000000 --- a/old/66683-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3452 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Story of the Battle Hymn of the -Republic, by Florence Howe Hall - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Story of the Battle Hymn of the Republic - -Author: Florence Howe Hall - -Release Date: November 6, 2021 [eBook #66683] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David E. Brown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE BATTLE HYMN -OF THE REPUBLIC *** - - - -[Illustration: _Julia Ward Howe._ - -From her last photograph, taken at Smith College a fortnight before her -death] - - - - - THE STORY OF - THE BATTLE HYMN - OF THE REPUBLIC - - BY - FLORENCE HOWE HALL - - DAUGHTER OF JULIA WARD HOWE - - [Illustration] - - HARPER & BROTHERS - NEW YORK AND LONDON - - - - - THE STORY OF THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC - - Copyright, 1916, by Harper & Brothers - - Printed in the United States of America - - Published October, 1916 - - - - -ACKNOWLEDGMENT - - -The author wishes to express her cordial thanks to Messrs. Houghton -& Mifflin for their courtesy in allowing her to quote a number of -passages from the _Reminiscences_ of Julia Ward Howe (published by -them in 1899) and several from _Julia Ward Howe_ (published by them in -1916). - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I. THE ANTI-SLAVERY PRELUDE TO THE GREAT TRAGEDY OF THE - CIVIL WAR 3 - - II. THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS 21 - - III. MRS. HOWE VISITS THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 38 - - IV. “THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC” 49 - - V. THE ARMY TAKES IT UP 64 - - VI. NOTABLE OCCASIONS WHERE IT HAS BEEN SUNG 73 - - VII. HOW AND WHERE THE AUTHOR RECITED IT 88 - - VIII. TRIBUTES TO “THE BATTLE HYMN” 96 - - IX. MRS. HOWE’S LESSER POEMS OF THE CIVIL WAR 107 - - X. MRS. HOWE’S LOVE OF FREEDOM AN INHERITANCE 121 - - - - - _THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC_ - - - _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._ - - _I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; - They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; - I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. - His day is marching on._ - - _I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel: - “As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal; - Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, - Since God is marching on.”_ - - _He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; - He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat: - Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! - Our God is marching on._ - - _In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, - With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: - As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, - While God is marching on._ - - - - -THE STORY OF “THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC” - - - - -I - -THE ANTI-SLAVERY PRELUDE TO THE GREAT TRAGEDY OF THE CIVIL WAR - -The encroachments of the slave power on Northern soil--Green Peace, - the home of Julia Ward Howe, a center of anti-slavery activity--She - assists her husband, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, in editing the - _Commonwealth_--He is made chairman of the Vigilance Committee--Slave - concealed at Green Peace--Charles Sumner is struck down in the United - States Senate. - - -The “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “the crimson flower of battle,” -bloomed in a single night. It sprang from the very soil of the -conflict, in the midst of the Civil War. Yet the plant which produced -it was of slow growth, with roots reaching far back into the past. - -In order to understand how this song of our nation sprang into sudden -being we must study that stormy past--the prelude of the Civil War. -How greatly it affected my mother we shall see from her own record, as -well as from the story of the events that touched her so nearly. My -own memory of them dates back to childhood’s days. Yet they moved and -stirred my soul as few things have done in a long life. - -Therefore I have striven to give to the present generation some idea -of the fervor and ferment, the exaltation of spirit, that prevailed at -that epoch among the soldiers of a great cause, especially as I saw it -in our household. - - * * * * * - - Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel. - -So many years have elapsed since the evil monster of slavery was done -to death that we sometimes forget its awful power in the middle of the -last century. The fathers of the Republic believed that it would soon -perish. They forbade its entrance into the Territories and were careful -to make no mention of it in the Constitution. - -The invention of the cotton-gin changed the whole situation. It was -found that slave labor could be used with profit in the cultivation -of the cotton crop. But slave labor with its wasteful methods -exhausted the soil. Slavery could only be made profitable by constantly -increasing its area. Hence, the Southern leaders departed from the -policy of the fathers of the Republic. Instead of allowing slavery -to die out, they determined to make it perpetual. Instead of keeping -it within the limits prescribed by the ancient law of the land, they -resolved to extend it. - -The Missouri Compromise of 1820 gave the first extension of slavery, -opening the great Territory of Missouri to the embrace of the serpent. -The fugitive-slave law was signed in 1850. Before this time the return -of runaway negroes had been an uncertain obligation. The new law took -away from State magistrates the decision in cases of this sort and gave -it to United States Commissioners. It imposed penalties on rescues and -denied a jury trial to black men arrested as fugitives, thus greatly -endangering the liberties of free negroes. The Dred Scott decision -(see page 10), denying that negroes could be citizens, was made in -1854. In 1856 the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas and -Nebraska law.[1] Additional territory was thrown open to the sinister -institution which now threatened to become like the great Midgard -snake, holding our country in its suffocating embrace, as that creature -of fable surrounded the earth. It was necessary to fling off the deadly -coils of slavery if we were to endure as a free nation. - -The first step was to arouse the sleeping conscience of the people. For -the South was not alone in wishing there should be no interference with -their “peculiar institution.” The North was long supine and dreaded any -new movement that might interfere with trade and national prosperity. -I can well remember my father’s pointing this out to his children, and -inveighing against the selfishness of the merchants as a class. Alas! -it was a Northern man, Stephen A. Douglas, who was the father of the -Kansas and Nebraska bill. - -“The trumpet note of Garrison” had sounded, some years before this -time, the first note of anti-slavery protest. But the Garrisonian -abolitionists did not seek to carry the question into politics. Indeed, -they held it to be wrong to vote under the Federal Constitution, -“A league with death and a covenant with hell,” as they called it. -Whittier, the Quaker poet, took a more practical view than his -fellow-abolitionists and advocated the use of the ballot-box. - -When the encroachments of the slave power began to threaten seriously -free institutions throughout the country, thinking men at the North saw -that the time for political action had come. There were several early -organizations which preceded the formation of the Republican party--the -Liberty party, Conscience Whigs, Free-soilers, as they were called. -My father belonged to the two latter, and I can well remember that my -elder sister and I were nicknamed at school, “Little Free-Dirters.” - -The election of Charles Sumner to the United States Senate was an -important victory for the anti-slavery men. Dr. Howe, as his most -intimate friend, worked hard to secure it. Yet we see by my father’s -letters that he groaned in spirit at the necessity of the political -dickering which he hated. - -Women in those days neither spoke in public nor took part in political -affairs. But it may be guessed that my mother was deeply interested -in all that was going on in the world of affairs, and under her own -roof, too, for our house at South Boston became one of the centers of -activity of the anti-slavery agitation. - -My father (who was some seventeen years older than his wife) well -understood the power of the press. He had employed it to good effect -in his work for the blind, the insane, and others. Hence he became -actively interested in the management of the _Commonwealth_, an -anti-slavery newspaper, and with my mother’s help edited it for an -entire winter. They began work together every morning, he preparing the -political articles, and she the literary ones. Burning words were sent -forth from the quiet precincts of “Green Peace.” My mother had thus -named the homestead, lying in its lovely garden, when she came there -early in her married life. Little did she then dream that the repeal of -the Missouri Compromise would disturb its serene repose some ten years -later. - -The agitation had not yet become so strong as greatly to affect the -children of the household. We played about the garden as usual and -knew little of the _Commonwealth_ undertaking, save as it brought some -delightful juveniles to the editorial sanctum. The little Howes highly -approved of this by-product of journalism! - -Our mother’s pen had been used before this time to help the cause of -the slave. As early as 1848 she contributed a poem to _The Liberty -Bell_, an annual edited by Mrs. Maria Norton Chapman and sold at the -anti-slavery bazars. “In my first published volume, _Passion Flowers_, -appeared some lines ‘On the Death of the Slave Lewis,’ which were wrung -from my indignant heart by a story--alas! too common in those days--of -murderous outrage committed by a master against his human chattel” -(_Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Struggle_, Julia Ward Howe). - -Another method of arousing the conscience of the nation was through -the public platform. My father and his friends were anxious to present -the great question in a perfectly fair way. So a series of lectures -was given in Tremont Temple, where the speakers were alternately the -most prominent advocates of slavery at the South and its most strenuous -opponents at the North. Senator Toombs, of Georgia, and General -Houston, of Texas, were among the former. - -It was, probably, at this lecture course that my father exercised his -office as chairman in an unusual way. In those days it was the custom -to open the meeting with prayer, and some of the contemporary clergymen -were very long-winded. Dr. Howe informed each reverend gentleman -beforehand that at the end of five minutes he should pull the latter’s -coat-tail. The divines were in such dread of this gentle admonition -that they invariably wound up the prayer within the allotted time. - -At this time no criticism of the “peculiar institution” was allowed -at the South. Northerners traveling there were often asked for their -opinion of it, but any unfavorable comment evoked displeasure. Indeed, -a friend of ours, a Northern woman teaching in Louisiana, was called -to book because in his presence she spoke of one of the slaves as a -“man.” A negro, she was informed, was not a man, and must never be so -called. “Boy” was the proper term to use. This was a logical inference -from Judge Taney’s famous Dred Scott decision--_viz._, that “such -persons,” _i. e._, negroes, “were not included among the people” in -the words of the Declaration of Independence, and could not in any -respect be considered as citizens. Yet, to quote Abraham Lincoln -again, “Judge Curtis, in his dissenting opinion, shows that in five -of the then thirteen States--to wit, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, -New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina--free negroes were voters, -and in proportion to their numbers had the same part in making the -Constitution that the white people had.” - -Events now began to move with ever-increasing rapidity. The scenes of -the stirring prelude to the Civil War grew ever more stormy. Men became -more and more wrought up as the relentless purpose of the Southern -leaders was gradually revealed. The deadly serpent of slavery became a -hydra-headed monster, striking north, east, and west. The hunting of -fugitive slaves took on a sinister activity in the Northern “border” -States; at the national capital the attempts to muzzle free speech -culminated in the striking down of Charles Sumner in the Senate Chamber -itself; in Kansas the “border ruffians” strove to inaugurate a reign -of terror, and succeeded in bringing on a local conflict which was the -true opening of the Civil War. - -The men who combated the dragon of slavery--the Siegfrieds of that -day--fought him in all these directions. In Boston Dr. Howe was among -the first to organize resistance to the rendition of fugitive slaves. -An escaped negro was kidnapped there in 1846. This was four years -before the passage by Congress of the fugitive-slave law made it the -duty (!) of the Free States to return runaway negroes to slavery. My -father called a meeting of protest at Faneuil Hall. He was the chief -speaker and “every sentence was a sword-thrust” (T. W. Higginson’s -account). I give a brief extract from his address: - -“The peculiar institution which has so long been brooding over the -country like an incubus has at length spread abroad its murky wings and -has covered us with its benumbing shadow. It has silenced the pulpit, -it has muffled the press; its influence is everywhere.... Court Street -can find no way of escape for the poor slave. State Street, that drank -the blood of the martyrs of liberty--State Street is deaf to the cry -of the oppressed slave; the port of Boston that has been shut up by a -tyrant king as the dangerous haunt of free-men--the port of Boston has -been opened to the slave-trader; for God’s sake, Mr. Chairman, let us -keep Faneuil Hall free!” - -Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, and Theodore Parker also spoke. John -Quincy Adams presided at the meeting. - -The meeting resulted in the formation of a vigilance committee of -forty, with my father as chairman. This continued its work until -the hunting of fugitives ceased in Boston. Secrecy necessarily -characterized its proceedings. An undated note from Dr. Howe to -Theodore Parker gives us a hint of them: - - [2]DEAR T. P.--Write me a note by bearer. Tell him merely whether I am - wanted to-night; if I am he will act accordingly about bringing my - wagon. - - I could bring any one here and keep him secret a week and no person - except Mrs. H. and myself would know it. - Yours, - CHEV.[3] - -This letter raises an interesting question. Were fugitives concealed, -unknown to us children, in our house? It is quite possible, for both -our parents could keep a secret. I remember a young white girl who was -so hidden from her drunken father until other arrangements could be -made for her. I remember also a negro girl, hardly more than a child, -who was secreted beneath the roof of Green Peace. Her mistress had -brought her to Boston as a servant. Since she was not a runaway, the -provisions of the odious fugitive-slave law did not apply to her. Here -at least we could cry: - - No fetters in the Bay State! - No slave upon her land! - -My father applied to the courts and in due process of time Martha was -declared free--so long as she remained on Northern soil. It may be -guessed that she did not care to return to the South! - -The feeling of the community was strongly opposed to taking part in -slave-hunts. Yankee ingenuity often found a way to escape this odious -task, and yet keep within the letter of the law. - -A certain United States marshal thus explained his proceedings: - -“Why, I never have any trouble about runaway slaves. If I hear that one -has come to Boston I just go up to Nigger Hill [a part of Joy Street] -and say to them, ‘Do you know of any runaway slaves about here?’ And -they never do!” - -This was a somewhat unique way of giving notice to the friends of the -fugitive that the officers of the law were after him. - -If he could only escape over the border into free Canada he was safe. -According to the English law no slave could remain such on British -soil. The moment he “shook the Lion’s paw” he became free. Our law in -these United States is founded on the English Common Law. Alas! the -pro-slavery party succeeded in overthrowing it. No wonder that Senator -Toombs, of Georgia, boasted that he would call the roll of his slaves -under the shadow of Bunker Hill Monument. The fugitive-slave law gave -him the power to do this, and thus make our boasted freedom of the soil -only an empty mockery. - -The vigilance committee did its work well, and for some time no runaway -slaves were captured in Boston. One poor wretch was finally caught. My -mother thus describes the event: - -“At last a colored fugitive, Anthony Burns by name, was captured and -held subject to the demands of his owner. The day of his rendition was -a memorable one in Boston. The courthouse was surrounded by chains -and guarded with cannon. The streets were thronged with angry faces. -Emblems of mourning hung from several business and newspaper offices. -With a show of military force the fugitive was marched through the -streets. No rescue was attempted at this time, although one had been -planned for an earlier date. The ordinance was executed; Burns was -delivered to his master. But the act once consummated in broad daylight -could never be repeated” (from Julia Ward Howe’s _Recollections of the -Anti-Slavery Struggle_). - -So great was the public indignation against the judge who had allowed -himself to be the instrument of the Federal Government in the return of -Burns to slavery that he was removed from office. Shortly afterward he -left Boston and went to live in Washington. - -The attempts to enforce the fugitive-slave law at the East failed, -as they were bound to fail. The efforts to muzzle free speech at the -national capital were more successful for a time. - -The task of Charles Sumner in upholding the principles of freedom in -the United States Senate was colossal. For long he stood almost alone, -“A voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the paths of the -Lord.” Fortunately he was endowed by nature with a commanding figure -and presence and a wonderful voice that fitted him perfectly for his -great task. My mother thus described him: - -“He was majestic in person, habitually reserved and rather distant in -manner, but sometimes unbent to a smile in which the real geniality -of his soul seemed to shed itself abroad. His voice was ringing and -melodious, his gestures somewhat constrained, his whole manner, like -his matter, weighty and full of dignity.” - -As an old and intimate friend, my father sometimes urged him to greater -haste in his task of combating slavery at the national capital. Thus -Charles Sumner writes to him from Washington, February 1, 1854: - - DEAR HOWE--Do not be impatient with me. I am doing all that I can. - This great wickedness disturbs my sleep, my rest, my appetite. - Much is to be done, of which the world knows nothing, in rallying - an opposition. It has been said by others, that but for Chase and - Sumner this Bill would have been rushed through at once, even without - debate. Douglas himself told me that our opposition was the only - sincere opposition he had to encounter. But this is not true. There - are others here who are in earnest. - - My longing is to rally the country against the Bill[4] and I desire - to let others come forward and broaden our front. - - Our Legislature ought to speak _unanimously_. Our people should - revive the old report and resolutions of 1820.[5] - - At present our first wish is delay, that the country may be aroused. - - “Would that night or Blücher had come!” - - God bless you always! - C. S. - -In the fateful spring of 1856 Dr. and Mrs. Howe were in Washington. -They saw both Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks. My mother has given us -pictures of the two men as she then saw them: - -“Charles Sumner looked up and, seeing me in the gallery, greeted me -with a smile of recognition. I shall never forget the beauty of that -smile. It seemed to me to illuminate the whole precinct with a silvery -radiance. There was in it all the innocence of his sweet and noble -nature.”[6] - -“At Willard’s Hotel I observed at a table near our own a typical -Southerner of that time, handsome, but with a reckless and defiant -expression of countenance which struck me unpleasantly. This was -Preston Brooks, of South Carolina.”[7] - -During one of his visits to the Howes, Sumner said: - -“I shall soon deliver a speech in the Senate which will occasion a good -deal of excitement. It will not surprise me if people leave their seats -and show signs of unusual disturbance.” - -My mother comments thus: - -“At the moment I did not give much heed to his words, but they came -back to me, not much later, with the force of prophecy. For Mr. Sumner -did make this speech, and though at the moment nothing was done against -him, the would-be assassin only waited for a more convenient season -to spring upon his victim and to maim him for life. Choosing a moment -when Mr. Sumner’s immediate friends were not in the Senate Chamber, -Brooks of South Carolina, armed with a cane of india-rubber, attacked -him in the rear, knocking him from his seat with one blow, and beating -him about the head until he lay bleeding and senseless upon the floor. -Although the partisans of the South openly applauded this deed, its -cowardly brutality was really repudiated by all who had any sense of -honor, without geographical distinction. The blow, fatal to Sumner’s -health, was still more fatal to the cause it was meant to serve, and -even to the man who dealt it. Within one year his murderous hand was -paralyzed in death, and Sumner, after hanging long between life and -death, stood once more erect, with the aureole of martyrdom on his -brow, and with the dear-bought glory of his scars a more potent witness -for the truth than ever. His place in the Senate remained for a time -eloquently empty.”[8] - -Hon. Miles Taylor, of Louisiana, defended in the Senate the attack on -Sumner. A part of his speech makes curious reading: - -“If this new dogma” (the evil of slavery) “should be received by -the American people with favor, it can only be when all respect -for revelation ... has been utterly swept away by such a flood of -irreligion and foul philosophy as never before set in.” - - - - -II - -THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS - -Border ruffians from Missouri carry Kansas elections with pistol - and bowie-knife. They prevent peaceable Free State emigrants from - entering the national territory--Dr. Howe carries out aid from - New England--Clergymen and Sharp’s rifles--Mrs. Howe’s indignant - verses--She opens the door for John Brown, the hero of the war in - Kansas--Gov. Andrew, Theodore Parker, Charles Sumner--The attack on - Fort Sumter--“The death-blow of slavery.” - - -These assaults by the serpent of slavery on the free institutions of -the North and East were dangerous enough, yet, like other evils, they -brought their own remedies with them. Such an open attack on free -speech as that on Sumner was sure to be resented, while the forcible -carrying-off of fugitive slaves under the shadow of old Faneuil Hall -aroused a degree of wrath that even the pro-slavery leaders saw was -ominous. - -“The crime against Kansas” was still more alarming because it -threatened to turn a free Territory into a slave State. In 1854 the -Kansas and Nebraska bill had been passed, repealing the Missouri -Compromise and exposing a vast area of virgin soil to the encroachments -of the “peculiar institution.” - -The Free-soil men were speedily on the alert. During that same year of -1854 two Massachusetts colonies were sent out to Kansas, others going -later. - -But the leaders of the slave power had no intention of allowing men -from the free States to settle peacefully in Kansas. They had repealed -the Missouri Compromise with the express purpose of gaining a new slave -State, and this was to be accomplished by whatever means were necessary. - -It was an easy matter to send men from Missouri into the adjacent -Territory of Kansas--to vote there and then to return to their homes -across the Mississippi. - -The New York _Herald_ of April 20, 1855, published the following letter -from a correspondent in Brunswick, Missouri: - - From five to seven thousand men started from Missouri to attend the - election, some to remove, but the most to return to their families, - with an intention, if they liked the Territory, to make it their - permanent abode at the earliest moment practicable. But they intended - to vote.... Indeed, every county furnished its quota; and when they - set out it looked like an army.... They were armed.... Fifteen - hundred wore on their hats bunches of hemp. They were resolved if a - tyrant attempted to trample upon the rights of the sovereign people - to hang him. - -It will be noted that “the rights of the sovereign people” were to go -to the ballot-box not in their own, but in another State. These “border -ruffians” took possession of the polls and carried the first election -with pistol and bowie-knife. - -The pro-slavery leaders strove to drive out the colonists from the free -States and to prevent additional emigrants from entering the Territory. -A campaign of frightfulness was inaugurated--with the usual result. - -Governor Geary of Kansas, although a pro-slavery official himself, -wrote (Dec. 22, 1856) that he heartily despised the abolitionists, but -that “_The persecutions of the Free State men here were not exceeded by -those of the early Christians._” - -My father was deeply interested in the colonization of Kansas and in -the struggle for freedom within its borders. He helped in 1854 to -organize the “New England Emigrant Aid Company” which assisted parties -of settlers to go to the Territory. In 1856 matters began to look very -dark for the colonists from the free States. “Dr. Howe was stirred to -his highest activity by the news from Kansas and by the brutal assault -on Charles Sumner” (F. B. Sanborn). With others he called and organized -the Faneuil Hall meeting. He was made chairman of its committee, and -at once sent two thousand dollars to St. Louis for use in Kansas. This -prompt action had an important effect on the discouraged settlers. Soon -afterward he started for Kansas to give further aid to the colonists. - -“I have traversed the whole length of the State of Iowa on horseback -or in a cart, sleeping in said cart or in worse lodgings, among dirty -men on the floor of dirty huts. We have organized a pretty good line of -communication between our base and the corps of emigrants who have now -advanced into the Territory of Nebraska. Everything depends upon the -success of the attempt to break through the _cordon infernale_ which -Missouri has drawn across the northern frontier of Kansas.”[9] - -In another letter he writes: - - The boats on the river are beset by spies and ruffians, are hauled up - at various places and thoroughly searched for anti-slavery men. - -He thus describes the emigrants:[10] - - CAMP OF THE EMIGRATION, NEBRASKA TERRITORY, - _July 29, ’56_. - - The emigration is indeed a noble one; sturdy, industrious, temperate, - resolute men.... I wish our friends in the East could know the - character and behavior of these emigrants. They are and have been - for two weeks encamped out upon these vast prairies in their tents - and waggons waiting patiently for the signal to move, exhausting all - peaceful resources and negotiations before resorting to force. - - There is no liquor in the whole camp; no smoking, no swearing, no - irregularity. They drink cold water, live mostly on mush and rice - and the simplest, cheapest fare. They have instruction for the - little children; they have Sunday-schools, prayer-meetings, and are - altogether a most sober and earnest community. Most of the loafers - have dropped off. The Wisconsin company, about one hundred, give a - tone to all the others. I could give you a picture of the drunken, - rollicking ruffians who oppose this emigration--but you know it. Will - the North allow such an emigration to be shut out of the National - Territory by such brigands? - -In another letter he tells us that among the emigrants were -thirty-eight women and children--grandfathers and grandmothers, too, -journeying with their live stock in carts drawn by oxen to the promised -land. - -He says nothing of danger to himself, but Hon. Andrew D. White tells us -that “Dr. Howe had braved death again and again while aiding the Free -State men against the pro-slavery myrmidons of Kansas.” - -The strength of the movement may be judged from the fact that during -this year (1856) the people of Massachusetts sent one hundred thousand -dollars in money, clothing, and arms to help the Free State colonists. -This money did not come from the radicals only, but from “Hunkers,” as -they were then called--_i. e._, conservative and well-to-do citizens. -My father wrote: “People pay readily here for Sharp’s rifles. One lady -offered me one hundred dollars the other day, and to-day a clergyman -offered me one hundred dollars.” - -My mother was greatly moved by these tragic events--the assault -on Sumner and the civil war in Kansas. In _Words for the Hour_--a -volume of her poems published in 1857--we find a record of her just -indignation. In the “Sermon of Spring” she describes Kansas as: - - Wearing the green nodding plumes of the Court of the Prairie, - Gyves on her free-born limbs, on her fair arms shackles, - Blood on her garments, terror and grief in her features. - “Tremble,” she cried, “tho’ the battle seem thine for a season, - Not a drop of my blood shall be wanting to judge thee. - Tremble, thou fallen from mercy ere fallen from office.” - -This poem, which is a long one, contains a tribute to Sumner, as do -also “Tremont Temple,” “The Senator’s Return,” and “An Hour in the -Senate.” I give a brief extract from the last named: - - Falls there no lightning from yon distant heaven - To crush this man’s potential impudence? - Shall not its outraged patience thunder: “Hence! - Forsake the shrine where Liberty was given!” - - “The strong shall rule, the arm of force have sway, - The helpless multitude in bonds abide--” - Again the chuckle and the shake of pride-- - “God’s for the stronger--so great Captains say.” - - * * * * * - - Yet, rise to answer, chafing in thy chair, - With soul indignant stirred, and flushing brow. - Thou art God’s candidate--speak soothly now, - Let every word anticipate a prayer. - - Gather in thine the outstretched hands that strive - To help thy pleading, agonized and dumb; - Bear up the hearts whose silent sorrows come - For utterance, to the voice that thou canst give. - -In the same volume are verses entitled “Slave Eloquence” and “Slave -Suicide.” - -How did the children of the household feel during this period of “Sturm -und Drang”? To the older ones, at least, it was a most exciting time. -While we did not by any means know of all that was going on, we felt -very strongly the electric current of indignation that thrilled through -our home, as well as the stir of action. My father early taught us to -love freedom and to hate slavery. He gave us, in brief, clear outline, -the story of the aggressions of the slave power. We knew of the -iniquity of the Dred Scott decision before we were in our teens. Child -that I was, I was greatly moved when he repeated Lowell’s well-known -lines: - - Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,-- - Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, - Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own. - -My father had always something of the soldier about him--a quick, -active step, gallant bearing, and a voice tender, yet strong, “A voice -to lead a regiment.” This was the natural consequence of his early -experiences in the Greek War of Independence, when he served some -seven years as surgeon, soldier, and--most important of all--almoner -of America’s bounty to the peaceful population. The latter would have -perished of starvation save for the supplies sent out in response to -Dr. Howe’s appeals to his countrymen. The greater part of his life was -devoted to the healing arts of the good physician. Yet the portraits of -him, taken during the tremendous struggle of the anti-slavery period, -show a sternness not visible in his younger nor yet in his later days. - -In her poem “A Rough Sketch” my mother described him as he seemed to -her at this time: - - A great grieved heart, an iron will, - As fearless blood as ever ran; - A form elate with nervous strength - And fibrous vigor,--all a man. - -Charles Sumner came often to Green Peace when he was in Boston. We -children greatly admired him. He seemed to us, and doubtless to others, -a species of superman. I can hardly think of those days without the -organ accompaniment of his voice--deeper than the depths, round and -full. When our friend was stricken down in the Senate, great was our -youthful indignation. Many were the arguments held with our mates at -school and dancing-school, often the children of the “Hunker” class. -They sought to justify the attack, and we replied with the testimony -of an eye-witness to the scene (Henry Wilson, afterward Vice-President -of the United States) and the fact that a colleague of Brooks stood, -waving a pistol[11] in each hand, to prevent any interference in behalf -of Sumner. We had heard about the cruel “Mochsa” with which his back -was burned in the hope of cure, and we lamented his sufferings. - -John A. Andrew, afterward the War Governor of the State, was another -intimate of our household, a great friend of both our parents. -Genial and merry, as a rule, he yet could be sternly eloquent in the -denunciation of slavery. - -Indeed, it was a speech of this nature which first brought him into -prominence. In the Massachusetts Legislature of 1858 the most striking -figure was that of Caleb Cushing. He had been Attorney-General in -President Franklin Pierce’s Cabinet and was one of the ablest lawyers -in the United States. When all were silent before his oratory and -no one felt equal to opposing this master of debate, Andrew, a young -advocate, was moved, like another David, to attack his Goliath. In a -speech of great eloquence he vindicated the action of the Governor and -the Legislature in removing from office the judge who had sent Anthony -Burns back into slavery and thus outraged the conscience of the Bay -State. As a lawyer he sustained his opinion by legal precedents. - -“When he took his seat there was a storm of applause. The House was -wild with excitement. Some members cried for joy; others cheered, -waved their handkerchiefs, and threw whatever they could find into the -air.”[12] - -And so, like David, he won not only the battle of the day, but the -leadership of his people in the stormy times that soon followed. - -When a box of copperhead snakes was sent to our beloved Governor we -were again indignant. (Political opponents had not then learned to send -gifts of bombs.) - -From Kansas itself Martin F. Conway came to us, full of fiery zeal for -the Free State cause, although born south of Mason and Dixon’s line. - -He later represented the young State in Congress. Samuel Downer -and George L. Stearns we often saw; both were very active in the -anti-slavery cause. The latter was remarkable for a very long and -beautiful beard, brown and soft, like a woman’s hair and reaching to -his waist. - -We heard burning words about the duty of Massachusetts during these -assaults of the slave power. Could she endure them, or should she not -rather seek to withdraw from the Union? - -These words sound strangely to us now, but it must be remembered that -in the fifties we had seen our fair Bay State made an annex to slave -territory. Men might well ask one another, “Can the Commonwealth of -Massachusetts endure the disgrace of having slave-hunts within her -borders?” “The Irrepressible Conflict” had come. When the pro-slavery -leaders forced the fugitive-slave law through Congress they struck a -blow at the life of the nation as deadly as that of Fort Sumter. The -latter was the inevitable sequel of the former. - -We saw often at Green Peace another intimate friend of our -parents--Theodore Parker, the famous preacher and reformer. As he -wore spectacles and was prematurely bald, he did not leave upon our -childish minds the impression of grandeur inseparably connected with -Charles Sumner. Yet the splendid dome of his head gave evidence of his -great intellect, while his blue eyes looked kindly and often merrily -at us. Having no children of his own, he would have liked to adopt our -youngest sister, could our parents have been persuaded to part with her. - -Theodore Parker advocated the anti-slavery cause with great eloquence -in the pulpit. He also belonged to my father’s vigilance committee -and harbored fugitive slaves in his own home. To one couple of -runaway negroes he presented a Bible and a sword--after marrying them -legally--a thing not always done in the day of slavery. My father -succeeded in sending away from Boston the man who attempted to carry -them back to the South, and William and Ellen Croft found freedom in -England. - -Theodore Parker’s sermons had a powerful influence on his great -congregation, of which my mother was for some time a member. In one of -her tributes to him she tells us how he drew them all toward the light -of a better day and prepared them also for “the war of blood and iron.” - -“I found that it was by the spirit of the higher humanity that he -brought his hearers into sympathy with all reforms and with the better -society that should ripen out of them. Freedom for black and white, -opportunity for man and woman, the logic of conscience and the logic -of progress--this was the discipline of his pulpit.... Before its [the -Civil War’s] first trumpet blast blew his great heart had ceased to -beat. But a great body of us remembered his prophecy and his strategy -and might have cried, as did Walt Whitman at a later date, ‘O captain, -my captain!’”[13] - -Rev. James Freeman Clarke, our pastor for many years, was among those -whose visits gave pleasure and inspiration as well to our household. He -did not hesitate to preach anti-slavery doctrines, unpopular as they -were, from his pulpit. My mother says of him at this time: - -“In the agitated period which preceded the Civil War and in that which -followed it he in his modest pulpit became one of the leaders, not -of his own flock alone, but of the community to which he belonged. I -can imagine few things more instructive and desirable than was his -preaching in those troublous times, so full of unanswered question and -unreconciled discord.”[14] - -Her beloved minister was among those who accompanied my mother on the -visit to the army which inspired “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” -This was written to the tune of: - - John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in the grave, - His soul is marching on. - -“Old Ossawotamie Brown” was the true hero of the bloody little war in -Kansas, where the Free State men finally prevailed, though many lives -were lost. He has been called “Savior of Kansas and Liberator of the -Slave.” He came at least once to Green Peace. My mother has described -her meeting with him. My father had told her some time previously about -a man who “seemed to intend to devote his life to the redemption of -the colored race from slavery, even as Christ had willingly offered -His life for the salvation of mankind.” One day he reminded her of -the person so described, and added: “That man will call here this -afternoon. You will receive him. His name is John Brown.”... - -Later, my mother wrote of this meeting: - -“At the expected time I heard the bell ring, and, on answering it, -beheld a middle-aged, middle-sized man, with hair and beard of amber -color streaked with gray. He looked a Puritan of the Puritans, -forceful, concentrated, and self-contained. We had a brief interview, -of which I only remember my great gratification at meeting one of whom -I had heard so good an account. I saw him once again at Dr. Howe’s -office, and then heard no more of him for some time.”[15] - -Elsewhere she has written apropos of his raid at Harper’s Ferry: - -“None of us could exactly approve an act so revolutionary in its -character, yet the great-hearted attempt enlisted our sympathies -very strongly. The weeks of John Brown’s imprisonment were very sad -ones, and the day of his death was one of general mourning in New -England.”[16] - -With the election of Lincoln we seemed to come to smoother times. We -young people certainly did not realize that we were on the brink of -civil war, although friends who had visited the South warned us of the -preparations going on there. If there should be any struggle, it would -be a brief one, people said. - -Suddenly, like a flash of lightning out of a clear sky, came the firing -on Sumter. My father came triumphantly into the nursery and called out -to his children: “Sumter has been fired upon! That’s the death-blow -of slavery.” Little did he or we realize how long and terrible the -conflict would be. But he knew that the serpent had received its -death-wound. All through the long and terrible war he cheered my mother -by his unyielding belief in the ultimate success of our arms. - -So the prelude ended and the greater tragedy began. The conflict of -ideas, the most soul-stirring period of our history, passed into the -conflict of arms. In the midst of its agony the steadfast soul of a -woman saw the presage of victory and gave the message, a message never -to be forgotten, to her people and to the world. - - - - -III - -MRS. HOWE VISITS THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC - -The Civil War breaks out--Dr. Howe is appointed a member of the - Sanitary Commission--Mrs. Howe accompanies him to Washington--She - makes her maiden speech to a Massachusetts regiment--She sees the - watch-fires of a hundred circling camps--She visits the army and her - carriage is involved in a military movement--She is surrounded by - “Burnished rows of steel.” - - -“The years between 1850 and 1857, eventful as they were, appear to me -almost a period of play when compared with the time of trial which was -to follow. It might have been likened to the tuning of instruments -before some great musical solemnity. The theme was already suggested, -but of its wild and terrible development who could have had any -foreknowledge?” - -In her _Reminiscences_ my mother thus compares the Civil War and its -prelude. Again she says of the former: - -“Its cruel fangs fastened upon the very heart of Boston and took from -us our best and bravest. From many a stately mansion father or son -went forth, followed by weeping, to be brought back for bitterer -sorrow.” - -Mercifully she was spared this last. My father was too old for military -service and no longer in vigorous health, being in his sixtieth year -when the war broke out; my eldest brother was just thirteen years of -age. Nevertheless she was brought into close touch with the activities -of the great struggle from the beginning. - -On the day when the news of the attack on Fort Sumter was received Dr. -Howe wrote to Governor Andrew, offering his services: - -“Since they will have it so--in the name of God, Amen! Now let all the -governors and chief men of the people see to it that war shall not -cease until emancipation is secure. If I can be of any use, anywhere, -in any capacity (save that of spy), command me.”[17] - -With what swiftness the “Great War Governor of Massachusetts” acted at -this time is matter of history. Two days after the President issued a -call for troops, three regiments started for Washington. Massachusetts -was thus the first State to come to the aid of the Union--the first, -alas! to have her sons struck down and slain. - -Governor Andrew was glad to avail himself of Dr. Howe’s offer of aid. -The latter’s early experiences in Greece made his help and counsel -valuable both to the State and to the nation. Gen. Winfield Scott, -Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and Governor Andrew requested him, on -May 2, 1861, to make a sanitary survey of the Massachusetts troops in -the field at and near the national capital. Before the end of the month -the Sanitary Commission was created, Dr. Howe being one of the original -members appointed by Abraham Lincoln. - -Governor Andrew was almost overwhelmed with the manifold cares and -duties of his office. Our house was one of the places where he took -refuge when he greatly needed rest. He was obliged to give up going -to church early in the war because many people followed him there, -importuning him with requests of all sorts. - -Thus the questions of the Civil War were brought urgently to my -mother’s mind in her own home, just as those of the anti-slavery period -had been a year or two before. - -To quote her _Reminiscences_ again: - -“The record of our State during the war was a proud one. The repeated -calls for men and for money were always promptly and generously -answered. And this promptness was greatly forwarded by the energy and -patriotic vigilance of the Governor. I heard much of this at the time, -especially from my husband, who was greatly attached to the Governor -and who himself took an intense interest in all the operations of the -war.... I seemed to live in and along with the war, while it was in -progress, and to follow all its ups and downs, its good and ill fortune -with these two brave men, Dr. Howe and Governor Andrew. Neither of them -for a moment doubted the final result of the struggle, but both they -and I were often very sad and much discouraged.” - -Governor Andrew was often summoned to Washington. Dr. Howe’s duties -as a member of the Sanitary Commission also took him there. Thus it -happened that my mother went to the national capital in their company -in the late autumn of 1861. Mrs. Andrew, the Governor’s wife, Rev. -James Freeman Clarke, and Mr. and Mrs. Edwin P. Whipple were also of -the party. - -As they drew near Washington they saw ominous signs of the dangers -encompassing the city. Mrs. Howe noticed little groups of armed men -sitting near a fire--pickets guarding the railroad, her husband told -her. For the Confederate Army was not far off, the Army of the Potomac -lying like a steel girdle about Washington, to protect it. - -This was my mother’s first glimpse of the Union Army which later made -such a deep impression upon her mind and heart. I have always fancied, -though she does not say so, that some of the vivid images of the -“Battle Hymn” were suggested by the scenes of this journey. - - I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; - They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; - I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. - His day is marching on! - -Arrived at Washington, the party established themselves at Willard’s -Hotel. Evidences of the war were to be seen on all sides. Soldiers on -horseback galloped about the streets, while ambulances with four horses -passed by the windows and sometimes stopped before the hotel itself. -Near at hand, my mother saw “The ghastly advertisement of an agency -for embalming and forwarding the bodies of those who had fallen in -the fight or who had perished by fever.”[18] In the vicinity of this -establishment was the office of the New York _Herald_. - -Governor Andrew and Dr. Howe were busy with their official duties; -indeed, the former was under such a tremendous pressure of work and -care that he died soon after the close of the war. The latter “carried -his restless energy and indomitable will from camp to hospital, from -battle-field to bureau.” His reports and letters show how deeply he was -troubled by the lack of proper sanitation among the troops. - -My mother again came in touch with the Army, visiting the camps and -hospitals in the company of Mr. Clarke and the Rev. William Henry -Channing. It need hardly be said that these excursions were made in no -spirit of idle curiosity. - -In ordinary times she would not look at a cut finger if she could help -it. I remember her telling us of one dreadful woman who asked to be -shown the worst wound in the hospital. As a result this morbid person -was so overcome with the horror of it that the surgeon was obliged to -leave his patient and attend to the visitor, while she went from one -fainting fit into another! - -Up to this time my mother had never spoken in public. It was from the -Army of the Potomac that she first received the inspiration to do so. -In company with her party of friends she had made “a reconnoitering -expedition,” visiting, among other places, the headquarters of Col. -William B. Greene, of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. The -colonel, who was an old friend, warmly welcomed his visitors. Soon he -said to my mother, “Mrs. Howe, you must speak to my men.” What did he -see in her face that prompted him to make such a startling request? - - * * * * * - -It must be remembered that in 1861 the women of our country were, with -some notable exceptions, entirely unaccustomed to speaking in public. -A few suffragists and anti-slavery leaders addressed audiences, but my -mother had not at this time joined their ranks. - -Yet she doubtless then possessed, although she did not know it, the -power of thus expressing herself. Colonel Greene must have read in her -face something of the emotion which poured itself out in the “Battle -Hymn.” He must have known, too, that she had already written stirring -verses. So he not only asked, but insisted that she should address the -men under his command. - -“Feeling my utter inability to do this, I ran away and tried to hide -myself in one of the hospital tents. Colonel Greene twice found me and -brought me back to his piazza, where at last I stood and told as well -as I could how glad I was to meet the brave defenders of our cause and -how constantly they were in my thoughts.”[19] - -I fear there is no record of this, her maiden speech. - -Throughout her long life church-going was a comfort, one might almost -say a delight, to her. During this visit to Washington, where the weeks -brought so many sad sights, she had the pleasure of listening on Sunday -to the Rev. William Henry Channing. Love of his native land induced him -to leave his pulpit in England and to return to this country in her -hour of darkness and danger. - -My mother tells us that this nephew of the great Dr. Channing was heir -to the latter’s spiritual distinction and deeply stirred by enthusiasm -in a noble cause. “On Sundays his voice rang out, clear and musical as -a bell, within the walls of the Unitarian church”[20]--her own church. -Thus she listened both in Washington and in Boston, her home city, to -men who were patriots as well as priests. - -As she tells the story, one sees how almost all the circumstances of -her environment tended to promote her love of country and to stir the -emotions of her deeply religious nature. It was by no accident that the -national song which bears her name is a hymn. Written at that time and -amid those surroundings, it could not have been anything else. - -Among her cherished memories of this visit was an interview with -Abraham Lincoln, arranged for the party by Governor Andrew. “I remember -well the sad expression of Mr. Lincoln’s deep blue eyes, the only -feature of his face which could be called other than plain.... The -President was laboring at this time under a terrible pressure of doubt -and anxiety.”[21] - -The culminating event of her stay in Washington was the visit to the -Army of the Potomac on the occasion of a review of troops. As the -writing of the “Battle Hymn” was the immediate result of the memorable -experiences of that day, I shall defer their consideration till the -next chapter. - -I have thus sketched briefly the train of events and experiences both -before and during the Civil War which led up to the composition of this -national hymn. The seed had lain germinating for years--at the last -it sprang suddenly into being. My mother’s mind often worked in this -way. It had a strongly philosophic tendency which made her think long -and study deeply. But she possessed, also, the fervor of the poet. -Her mental processes were often extremely rapid, especially under -the stress of strong emotion. She herself thought the quick action -of her mind was due to her red-haired temperament. The two opposing -characteristics of her intellect, deliberation and speed, were perhaps -the result of the mixed strains of her blood inherited from English and -French ancestors. - -The student of her life will note a number of sudden inspirations, or -visions, as we may call them. Before these we can usually trace a long -period of meditation and reflection. Her peace crusade, her conversion -to the cause of woman suffrage, her dream of a golden time when men and -women should work together for the betterment of the world, were all of -this description. - -The “Battle Hymn” was the most notable of these inspirations. In -her _Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Struggle_ she ascribes its -composition to two causes--the religion of humanity and the passion -of patriotism. The former was a plant of slow growth. In her tribute -to Theodore Parker,[22] she tells us how this developed under his -preaching, and how he prepared his hearers for the war of blood and -iron that soon followed. - -My mother had long cherished love for her country, but it burned more -intensely when the war came, bursting into sudden flame after that -memorable day with the soldiers. - -“When the war broke out, the passion of patriotism lent its color to -the religion of humanity in my own mind, as in many others, and a -moment came in which I could say: - - Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! - ---and the echo which my words awoke in many hearts made me sure that -many other people had seen it also.”[23] - - - - -IV - -“THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC” - -“The crimson flower of battle blooms” in a single night--The vision - in the gray morning twilight--It is written down in the half-darkness - on her husband’s official paper of the U. S. Sanitary Commission--How - it was published in the _Atlantic Monthly_ and the price paid for - it--The John Brown air derived from a camp-meeting hymn--The simple - story in her own words. - - -Over and over again, so many times that she lost count of them, was my -mother asked to describe the circumstances under which she composed -“The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Fortunately she wrote them down, so -that we are able to give “the simple story” in her own words. - -The following account is taken in part from her _Reminiscences_ and in -part from the leaflet printed in honor of her seventieth birthday, May -27, 1889, by the New England Woman’s Club. She was president of this -association for about forty years: - -“I distinctly remember that a feeling of discouragement came over me -as I drew near the city of Washington. I thought of the women of my -acquaintance whose sons or husbands were fighting our great battle; the -women themselves serving in the hospitals or busying themselves with -the work of the Sanitary Commission. My husband, as already said, was -beyond the age of military service, my eldest son but a stripling; my -youngest was a child of not more than two years. I could not leave my -nursery to follow the march of our armies, neither had I the practical -deftness which the preparing and packing of sanitary stores demanded. -Something seemed to say to me, ‘You would be glad to serve, but you -cannot help any one; you have nothing to give, and there is nothing for -you to do.’ Yet, because of my sincere desire, a word was given me to -say which did strengthen the hearts of those who fought in the field -and of those who languished in prison. - -“In the late autumn of the year 1861 I visited the national capital -with my husband, Dr. Howe, and a party of friends, among whom were -Governor and Mrs. Andrew, Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Whipple, and my dear -pastor, Rev. James Freeman Clarke. - -“The journey was one of vivid, even romantic, interest. We were about -to see the grim Demon of War face to face, and long before we reached -the city his presence made itself felt in the blaze of fires along the -road, where sat or stood our pickets, guarding the road on which we -traveled. - -“One day we drove out to attend a review of troops, appointed to take -place at some distance from the city. In the carriage with me were -James Freeman Clarke and Mr. and Mrs. Whipple. The day was fine, and -everything promised well, but a sudden surprise on the part of the -enemy interrupted the proceedings before they were well begun. A small -body of our men had been surrounded and cut off from their companions, -re-enforcements were sent to their assistance, and the expected pageant -was necessarily given up. The troops who were to have taken part in it -were ordered back to their quarters, and we also turned our horses’ -heads homeward. - -“For a long distance the foot soldiers nearly filled the road. They -were before and behind, and we were obliged to drive very slowly. We -presently began to sing some of the well-known songs of the war, and -among them: - - ‘John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in the grave.’ - -This seemed to please the soldiers, who cried, ‘Good for you,’ and -themselves took up the strain. Mr. Clarke said to me, ‘You ought to -write some new words to that tune.’ I replied that I had often wished -to do so. - -“In spite of the excitement of the day I went to bed and slept as -usual, but awoke next morning in the gray of the early dawn, and to my -astonishment found that the wished-for lines were arranging themselves -in my brain. I lay quite still until the last verse had completed -itself in my thoughts, then hastily arose, saying to myself, ‘I shall -lose this if I don’t write it down immediately.’ I searched for a sheet -of paper and an old stump of a pen which I had had the night before and -began to scrawl the lines almost without looking, as I had learned to -do by often scratching down verses in the darkened room where my little -children were sleeping. Having completed this, I lay down again and -fell asleep, but not without feeling that something of importance had -happened to me.” - -It will be noted that the first draft of the “Battle Hymn” was written -on the back of a sheet of the letter-paper of the Sanitary Commission -on which her husband was then serving. Mr. A. J. Bloor, the assistant -secretary of that body, has called attention to this. His account of -the eventful day is given at the close of this chapter. - -My mother gave the original draft of the “Battle Hymn” to her friend, -Mrs. Edwin P. Whipple, “who begged it of me, years ago.” Hence below -the letter-heading: - - SANITARY COMMISSION, WASHINGTON, D. C. - TREASURY BUILDING - _1861_ - -we find the inscription - - WILLARD’S HOTEL - JULIA W. HOWE - TO - CHARLOTTE B. WHIPPLE - -The draft remained for many years in the possession of the latter, -until it was sent to Messrs. Houghton & Mifflin, in order to have a -facsimile made for the _Reminiscences_. - -Mr. and Mrs. Whipple were among the familiar friends of our household -in those days. The former achieved brilliant successes both as a writer -and as a lecturer. He was greatly interested in the anti-slavery -agitation; “His eloquent voice was raised more than once in the cause -of human freedom.” The younger members of our family remember him best -for his ready and delightful wit. The fact that he was decidedly homely -seemed to give additional point to his funny sayings. Mrs. Whipple was -as handsome as her husband was plain--sweet-tempered and sympathetic, -yet not wanting in firmness. - -Before publishing the poem the author made a number of changes, all -of which are, as I think, improvements. The last verse, which is an -anticlimax, was cut out altogether. - -We find from her letters that she hesitated to allow the publication of -the original draft of the “Battle Hymn”[24] because it contained this -final verse. She did not consider it equal to the rest of the poem.[25] -After consulting other literary people, in her usual painstaking way, -she decided to have the first draft published.[26] It will be noted -that in the first verse “vintage” has been substituted for “wine -press.” The first line of the third verse read originally, - - I have read a burning gospel writ in fiery rows of steel. - -The later version, - - I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel: - -brings out more clearly the image of the long lines of bayonets as they -glittered in her sight on that autumn afternoon. In the fourth verse -the second line was somewhat vague in the first draft, - - He has waked the earth’s dull bosom with a high ecstatic beat, - -The allusion was probably to the marching feet of the armed multitude. -The new version, - - He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment-seat: - -is more direct and simple, hence accords better with the deeply -religious tone of the poem. - -In the last stanza, - - In the whiteness of the lilies he was born across the sea, - -now reads, - - In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, - -A number of people have asked the meaning of this line. The allusion -is evidently to the lilies carried by the angel, in pictures of the -annunciation to the Virgin, these flowers being the emblem of purity. - -The original version of the second line read, - - With a glory in his bosom that shines out on you and me, - -The present words, - - Transfigures you and me, - -give us a clearer and more beautiful image. The passion of the poem -seems, indeed, to lift on high and glorify our poor humanity. - -It is interesting to note that my mother associated with her husband -the line, - - _He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat_; - -Not long before her death, new buildings were erected at Watertown, -Massachusetts, for the Perkins Institution for the Blind, founded and -administered for more than forty years by Dr. Howe. His son-in-law, -Michael Anagnos, ably continued the work during thirty more years. - -When we were talking about a suitable inscription in memory of the -latter, I suggested to my mother the use of this line. The answer was, -“_No, that is for your father._” - -The original draft of the “Battle Hymn” is dated November, 1861; it -was published in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for February, 1862. The verses -were printed on the first page, being thus given the place of honor. -According to the custom of that day, no name was signed to them. James -T. Fields was then editor of the magazine. My mother consulted him with -regard to a name for the poem. It was he, as I think, who christened -it “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The price paid for it was five -dollars. But the true price of it was a very different thing, not to -be computed in terms of money. It brought its author name and fame -throughout the civilized world, in addition to the love and honor of -her countrymen. As she grew older and the spiritual beauty of her life -and thought shone out more and more clearly, the affection in which she -was held deepened into something akin to veneration. - -The “Battle Hymn” soon found its way from the pages of the _Atlantic -Monthly_ into the newspapers, thence to army hymn-books and broadsides. -It has been printed over and over again, in a great variety of forms, -sometimes with the picture of the author, as in the Perry prints. A -white silk handkerchief now in my possession bears the line, - - Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord - -worked in red embroidery silk. - -My mother was called upon to copy the poem times without number. While -she was very willing to write a line or even, upon occasion, a verse -or two, she objected very decidedly, especially in her later years, -to copying the whole poem. Always responsive to the requests of the -autograph fiend, she felt that so much should not be asked of her. For -it naturally took time and trouble to make the fair copy that came up -to her standard. It was with some difficulty that I persuaded her to -send a promised copy to Edmund Clarence Stedman, for his collection. - -“But mamma, you _said_ you would write it out for him.” - -With a roguish twinkle, she replied, “Yes, but I did not say _when_.” - -However, the verses were duly executed and sent to the banker-poet. - -“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” has been translated into Spanish, -Italian, Armenian, and doubtless other languages. New tunes have been -composed for it, but they have failed of acceptance. My mother dearly -loved music and was a trained musician, hence her choice of a tune was -no haphazard selection. She wrote her poem to the “John Brown” air and -they cannot be divorced. - -I have been so fortunate as to secure from Franklin B. Sanborn an -account of the origin of the words and music of the “John Brown” song. -Mr. Sanborn, biographer of Thoreau, John Brown, and others, is the last -survivor of the brilliant group of writers belonging to the golden age -of New England literature. - - CONCORD, MASS., _1916_. - - DEAR MRS. HALL--I investigated quite thoroughly the air to which the - original John Brown folk song was set;... - - I happened to be in Boston the day that Fletcher Webster’s regiment - (the 12th Mass. Volunteers) came up from Fort Warren, landed on Long - Wharf, and marched up State Street past the old State House, on - their way to take the train for the Front, in the summer of 1861. - As they came along, a quartette, of which Capt. Howard Jenkins, - then a sergeant in this regiment, was a tenor voice, was singing - something sonorous, which I had never heard. I asked my college - friend Jacobsen, of Baltimore, who stood near me, “What are they - singing?” He replied, “That boy on the sidewalk is selling copies.” - I approached him and bought a handbill which, without the music, - contained the rude words of the John Brown song, which I then heard - for the first time, but listened to a thousand times afterward - during the progress of the emancipating Civil War--before they were - superseded by Mrs. Howe’s inspired lines, which now take their place - almost everywhere. - - The chorus was borne by the marching soldiers, who had practised - it in their drills at the Fort; indeed, it had been adapted from - a camp-meeting hymn to a marching song, for which it is admirably - fitted, by the bandmaster of Col. Webster’s regiment, and afterward - revised by Dodworth’s military band, then the best in the country. - It was this thrilling music, with its resounding religious chorus, - which Mrs. Howe, in company with our Massachusetts Governor Andrew, - heard near the Potomac, the next November, in the evening camps that - encircled Washington. - - Yours ever, - F. B. SANBORN. - -The following account of Mrs. Howe’s visit to Washington and of the -circumstances connected with the writing of the “Battle Hymn” was -written by Mr. A. J. Bloor, assistant secretary of the U. S. Sanitary -Commission: - -“JULIA WARD HOWE - -“It was the writer’s privilege to be introduced early in the Civil War -to Julia Ward Howe, the author of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ -and now, through the fullness of her days, the dean of American -literature, though recognized long ago as having employed her high -gift of utterance not merely as the magnet to attract to herself an -advantageous celebrity, but paramountly as the instrument for the -righting of wrong and the amelioration of the current conditions of -humanity. - -“I was presented to Mrs. Howe by her husband, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, -a companion of Lord Byron in aiding the Greeks to throw off the yoke of -the Turks, and the philanthropist who opened the gates of hope to the -famous Laura Bridgman, born blind, deaf, and dumb. Dr. Howe invented -various processes by which he rescued her from her living tomb, as -he subsequently did others born to similar deprivations, and he was -careful to leave on record such exhaustive and clear statements as -to his methods that, after his decease, the track was well illumined -wherein later any well-doer for other victims in like case might open -to them, through their single physical sense of touch, the doors -leading to all earthly knowledge so far stored in letters.... - -“Dr. Howe, on the outbreak of the Civil War, consented to serve as a -member of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, a volunteer organization of -influential Union men, springing from a central association in New York -City for the relief of the forces serving in the war, and consisting of -a few Union ladies, one of whom, Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler, suggested -the formation of a similar but larger and wider-spread body of men, -representing the Union sentiment of the whole North, into which her own -society should be merged as one of--so it turned out--many branches. - -“Such a body was accordingly enrolled and, with Dr. Bellows, a -prominent Unitarian clergyman of the day, as its president, was -appointed a commission, by President Lincoln, as a _quasi_ Bureau -of the War Department, to complement the appliances and work of the -Government’s Medical Bureau and Commissariat, which, at the sudden -outbreak of the war, were very deficient. - -“Of this commission I was the assistant secretary, with headquarters -at its central office in Washington.... On the occasion of General -McClellan’s first great review of the Army of the Potomac--numbering -at that time about seventy thousand men--at Upton’s Hill, in Virginia, -not far from the enemy’s lines, Dr. Howe asked me to accompany him -thither on horseback to see it, which I did. Mrs. Howe had preceded -us, with several friends, by carriage, and it was there, in the -midst of the blare and glitter and bedizened simulacra of actual and -abhorrent warfare, that he did me the honor of presenting me to his -wife, then known, outside her private circle, only as the author of a -book of charming lyrical essays; but for years since recognized, and -doubtless, in the future, will be adjudged, the inspired creator of a -war song which for rapt outlook, reverent mysticism, and stateliness of -expression, as well as for more widely appreciated patriotic ardor, has -more claim, in my estimation, to be styled a hymn than not a few that -swell the pages of some of our hymnals. I have always thought it an -honor even for the Sanitary Commission with all its noble work of help -to the nation in its straits, and of mercy to the suffering, that Julia -Ward Howe’s ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ should have been written on -paper headed ‘U. S. Sanitary Commission,’ as may be seen by a facsimile -of it in her delightful volume of reminiscences. It seems a pity that -Mrs. Howe, an accomplished musical composer in private, as well as a -poet in public, should not herself have set the air for her own words -in that famous utterance of insight, enthusiasm, and prophecy.” - - - - -V - -THE ARMY TAKES IT UP - -Gloom in Libby Prison, July 6, 1863--The victory of - Gettysburg--Chaplain McCabe sings “Mine eyes have seen the glory of - the coming of the Lord”--Five hundred voices take up the chorus--The - “Battle Hymn” at the national capital--The great throng shout, - sing, and weep--Abraham Lincoln listens with a strange glory on his - face--The army takes up the song. - - -“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was inspired by the tremendous issues -of the war, as they were brought vividly to the poet’s mind by the -sight of the Union Army. - -My mother had seen all that she describes--she had been a part of the -great procession of “burnished rows of steel” when her carriage was -surrounded by the Army. She had heard the soldiers singing: - - “John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in the grave, - His soul is marching on.” - -Old John Brown who had - - Died to make men free, - -whose spirit the army knew to be with them! - -All this sank deeply into the heart of the poet. The soul of the Army -took possession of her. The song which she wrote down in the gray -twilight of that autumn morning voiced the highest aspirations of -the soldiers, of the whole people. Hence, when the armies of freedom -heard it, they at once hailed it as their own. My mother writes in her -_Reminiscences_: - -“The poem, which was soon after published in the _Atlantic Monthly_, -was somewhat praised on its appearance, but the vicissitudes of the war -so engrossed public attention that small heed was taken of literary -matters. I knew, and was content to know, that the poem soon found its -way to the camps, as I heard from time to time of its being sung in -chorus by the soldiers.” - -This was the beginning, but the interest increased as the “Battle Hymn” -became more and more widely known, until it grew to be one of the -leading lyrics of the war. It was “sung, chanted, recited, and used in -exhortation and prayer on the eve of battle.” “It was the word of the -hour, and the Union armies marched to its swing.” - -The “singing chaplain”--Rev. Charles Cardwell McCabe of the 122d Ohio -Regiment of Volunteers, did much to popularize this war lyric. Reading -it in the _Atlantic Monthly_, he was so charmed with the lines that -he committed them to memory before arising from his chair. A year or -so later, while attending the wounded men of his regiment, after the -battle of Winchester (June, 1863), he was taken prisoner and carried to -Libby Prison. Here he was a living benediction to the prisoners. Deeply -religious by nature and blest with a cheerful, happy disposition, he -kept up the spirits of his companions, ministering alike to their -bodily and spiritual needs. Thus he begged three bath-tubs for them, -an inestimable treasure, even though these had to serve the needs of -six hundred men. Books, too, he procured for them, for the prisoners -at this time comprised a notable company of men--doctors, teachers, -editors, merchants, lawyers. “We bought books when we needed bread,” -the chaplain tells us. - -With the music of his wonderful voice he was wont to dispel the gloom -that often settled upon the inmates of the prison. Many stories are -told of its power, pathos, and magnetism. Whenever the dwellers in old -Libby felt depression settling upon their spirits they would call out, -“Chaplain, sing us a song.” Then “The heavy load that oppressed us all -seemed as by magic to be lifted.” - -[27]July 6, 1863, was a dark day for the prisoners. They were -required to cast lots for the selection of two captains who were -to be executed. These officers were taken to the dungeon below and -told to prepare for death. Then the remaining men huddled together -discussing the situation. The Confederate forces were marching north, -and a terrible battle had been fought. Grant was striving to capture -Vicksburg, the key to the Mississippi, with what result they did not -know. The Richmond newspapers brought tidings of disaster to the Union -armies. In startling head-lines the prisoners read: “Meade defeated -at Gettysburg.” “The Northern Army fleeing to the mountains.” “Grant -repulsed at Vicksburg.” “The campaign closed in disaster.” - -A pall deeper and darker than death settled upon the Union prisoners. -The poor, emaciated fellows broke down and cried like babies. They lost -all hope. “We had not enough strength left to curse God and die,” as -one of them said later. - -“By and by ‘Old Ben,’ a negro servant, slipped in among them under -pretense of doing some work about the prison; concealed under his coat -was a later edition of the paper, on which the ink was scarcely dry. -He looked around upon the prostrate host, and called out, ‘Great news -in de papers.’ If you have never seen a resurrection, you could not -tell what happened. We sprang to our feet and snatched the papers from -his hands. Some one struck a light and held aloft a dim candle. By its -light we read these head-lines: - -‘Lee is defeated! His pontoons are swept away! The Potomac is over its -banks! The whole North is up in arms and sweeping down upon him!’ - -“The revulsion of feeling was almost too great to endure. The boys went -crazy with joy. They saw the beginning of the end.” Chaplain McCabe -sprang upon a box and began to sing: - - “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord--” - -and the five hundred voices sang the chorus, “Glory, Glory, -Hallelujah,” as men never sang before. The old negro rolled upon the -floor in spasms of joy. I must not forget to add that the two captains -were _not_ executed, after all. - -Chaplain McCabe remained in Libby Prison until October, 1863, when -an attack of typhoid fever nearly cost him his life. As soon as his -health would permit, he resumed his labors in behalf of the Army, this -time as a delegate of the United States Christian Commission. His -deep religious feeling, of which patriotism was an integral part, had -a great influence among the soldiers. Wherever he went he took the -“Battle Hymn” with him. “He sang it to the soldiers in camp and field -and hospital; he sang it in school-houses and churches; he sang it -at camp-meetings, political gatherings, and the Christian Commission -assemblies, and all the Northland took it up.”[28] - -As he wrote the author: - -“I have sung it a thousand times since and shall continue to sing it as -long as I live. No hymn has ever stirred the nation’s heart like ‘The -Battle Hymn of the Republic.’” - -I must not forget to say that the singing chaplain made excellent use -of this war lyric to raise funds for the work among the soldiers. With -his matchless voice he sang thousands of dollars out of the people’s -pockets into the treasury of the Christian Commission. - -On February 2, 1864, a meeting in the interests of the Christian -Commission was held in the hall of the House of Representatives at -Washington. Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of the United States, -presided. Abraham Lincoln was present, and an immense audience filled -the hall. Various noted men spoke; then Chaplain McCabe made a short -speech and, “by request,” sang the “Battle Hymn.” The effect on the -great throng was magical. “Men and women sprang to their feet and wept -and shouted and sang, as the chaplain led them in that glorious ‘Battle -Hymn’; they saw Abraham Lincoln’s tear-stained face light up with a -strange glory as he cried out, ‘_Sing it again!_’ and McCabe and all -the multitude sang it again.”[29] - -Doubtless many Grand Army posts have among their records stories of the -inspiring influence of this song in times of trouble or danger. Such an -anecdote was related at the Western home of Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, -where Acker Post had been invited to meet my mother: - -“Capt. Isaac Mahan affectingly described a certain march on a winter -midnight through eastern Tennessee. The troops had been for days -without enough clothing, without enough food. They were cold and wet -that stormy night, hungry, weary, discouraged, morose. But some one -soldier began, in courageous tones, to sing ‘Mine eyes have seen--’ -Before the phrase was finished a hundred more voices were heard about -the hopeful singer. Another hundred more distant and then another -followed until, far to the front and away to the rear, above the -splashing tramp of the army through the mud, above the rattle of the -horsemen, the rumble of the guns, the creaking of the wagons, and the -shouts of the drivers, there echoed, louder and softer, as the rain and -wind-gusts varied, the cheerful, dauntless invocation of the ‘Battle -Hymn.’ It was heard as if a heavenly ally were descending with a song -of succor, and thereafter the wet, aching marchers thought less that -night of their wretched selves, thought more of their cause, their -families, their country.” - -Mr. A. J. Bloor, assistant secretary of the United States Sanitary -Commission, has given us some vivid pictures of the soldiers as they -sang the hymn: - -“Time and again, around the camp-fires scattered at night over some -open field, when the Army of the Potomac--or a portion of it--was on -the march, have I heard the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’--generally, -however, the first verse only, but in endless repetition--sung in -unison by hundreds of voices--occasions more impressive than that of -any oratorio sung by any musical troupe in some great assembly-room. -And I remember how, one night in the small hours, returning to -Washington from the front, by Government steamer up the Potomac, with -a party of ‘San. Com.’ colleagues and Army officers, mostly surgeons, -we found our horses awaiting us at the Seventh Street dock; and how, -mounting them, we galloped all the long distance to our quarters, -singing the ‘Battle Hymn’--this time the whole of it--at the top of our -voices.” - - - - -VI - -NOTABLE OCCASIONS WHERE IT HAS BEEN SUNG - -By great crowds in the street after Union victories in the Civil - War--On the downfall of Boss Croker--At Memorial Day celebrations - from the Atlantic to the Pacific--At the Chicago convention where the - General Federation of Women’s Clubs indorsed woman suffrage--At Brown - University and Smith College when Mrs. Howe received the degree of - LL.D. - - -“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” has been sung and recited thousands -of times, by all sorts of people under widely varying circumstances, -yet the key-note of it is most fitly struck when men and women are -lifted out of themselves by the power of strong emotion. In times of -danger and of thanksgiving the “Battle Hymn” is now, as it was in the -’sixties, the fitting vehicle for the expression of national feeling. -Indeed, it has been so used in other countries as well as in our own. -In my mother’s journal the entry often occurs, “They sang my ‘Battle -Hymn.’” Usually she makes no comment. - -It would, of course, be impossible and it might be tedious to rehearse -all the notable occasions where this national song has been given. Yet -many of them have been so full of interest as to demand a place in the -story of the “Battle Hymn.” The record would be incomplete without -them. I give a few which will serve as samples. - -In New York City there was a good deal of disloyal sentiment during the -Civil War. Here the draft riots took place in the summer of 1863, when -the guns from the battle of Gettysburg were rushed to the metropolis. -Here the cannon, their wheels still deeply incrusted with mud, were -drawn up, a grim reminder to the rioters of the actual meaning of war. -To these the sight of a uniform was odious. My husband, David Prescott -Hall, then a young lad returning from a summer camping trip, was chased -through the streets by some excited individuals. As he had a knapsack -on his back, they mistook him for a soldier. - -It need scarcely be said that New York City had also a large loyal -population. In the early days of the war men suspected of secession -sympathies were visited by deputations of citizens who insisted upon -their displaying the flag. They found it wiser to do so. After one -of the final victories of the war, perhaps the taking of Richmond, a -great crowd gathered before the bulletin-board of a New York newspaper. -Some one started to sing the “Battle Hymn” and the whole mass of people -took it up, “_Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!_” What else could so well have -expressed the joy and thanksgiving of our people, weary of four long -years of fratricidal war! My husband, who was present, described the -scene as being most impressive. - -F. B. Sanborn in his _Early History of Kansas_ tells us an interesting -story of the singing of the “Battle Hymn” on a very different occasion. - -“People were gathered together to hear a sermon from Col. James -Montgomery, a man of undaunted courage and a veteran both of the Civil -War and of the Kansas struggle. The place was Trading Post, where, -during the Kansas troubles, some fourteen years before this time, a -massacre had been perpetrated. Among his audience were survivors and -relatives of the slain. There were present, too, a score of men who -had ‘shouted amen when their renowned leader registered his vow that -the blood of the dead and the tears of the widows and children should -not be shed in vain.’ Montgomery was of the indomitable Scotch-Irish -blood, tall and slender, with a shaggy shock of long black hair and -even shaggier whiskers. - -“As he arose to begin the services and fixed his gaze on the familiar -faces of those who had suffered and whose sufferings he had so fully -avenged, a gleam of joy and satisfaction seemed to blaze from his -penetrating eyes and thrilled the audience into perfect accord. He -hesitated a moment, and then requested all to arise and sing ‘The -Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ The noble thought of that grand hymn -stirred the crowd to the deepest depths of feeling. The text was in -keeping with the occasion: - -“‘Be not deceived. God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that -shall he also reap.’ - -“The discourse was powerful and impressive. He reminded his hearers -of his prophecy that the remaining years of slavery could be numbered -on the fingers of one hand, and that he should lead a host of negro -soldiers, arrayed in the national uniform, in the redemption of the -country from the curse of slavery. A few days afterward the old -Covenanter was dead!” - -To the Grand Army of the Republic Julia Ward Howe was especially dear. -On Memorial Day a detachment always visits and decorates her grave, -with simple but impressive ceremonies. Upon that of her husband, which -lies next to hers, the Greeks always lay flowers. This festival of -remembrance comes only three days after my mother’s birthday, May 27th. -In 1899, when she was eighty years of age, the ceremonies in Boston -were of unusual interest. - -The Grand Army of the Republic held a celebration in Boston Theater, -Major-General Joseph Wheeler, formerly an officer in the Confederate -Army, having been invited to deliver the address. Mrs. Howe rode -thither in an open carriage with the general’s two daughters, “_very_ -pleasant girls.” - -The Philadelphia _Press_ thus describes the occasion: - -“BOSTON WARMED UP - -“The major has just returned from Boston, where he was present at the -Memorial Day services held in Boston Theater. - -“It was the real thing. I never imagined possible such a genuine -sweeping emotion as when that audience began to sing the ‘Battle Hymn.’ -If Boston was cold, it was thawed by the demonstration on Tuesday. -Myron W. Whitney started to sing. He bowed to a box, in which we first -recognized Mrs. Howe, sitting with the Misses Wheeler. You should have -heard the yell. We could see the splendid white head trembling; then -her voice joined in, as Whitney sang, ‘In the beauty of the lilies,’ -and by the time he had reached the words, ‘As He died to make men holy, -let us die to make men free,’ the whole vast audience was on its feet, -sobbing and singing at the top of its thousands of lungs. If volunteers -were really needed for the Philippines, McKinley could have had us all -right there.” - -This was in her adopted city of Boston, where she had lived for more -than half a century. The Grand Army men of California gave her a -similar reception on Memorial Day, 1888. - -We quote extracts from the San Francisco papers describing it: - -“The Grand Opera House never contained a larger audience. Not only were -all the chairs taken up but every inch of standing-room was pre-empted. -There were many persons who could not gain an entrance.... Mr. Dibble -next called the attention of the audience to the fact that Mrs. Julia -Ward Howe, the author of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ was among -the guests of the evening. - -“At this juncture an enthusiastic gentleman in one of the front seats -sprang up and called for three cheers for Mrs. Howe. They were given -with a vim, Mrs. Howe acknowledging the compliment by rising and -bowing.... The next event upon the program was the singing of ‘The -Battle Hymn of the Republic’ by J. C. Hughes. The singing was preceded -by a scene rarely witnessed and which was not on the printed program. -General Salomon introduced Mrs. Howe to the audience in an appreciative -speech. - -“A beautiful floral piece was then presented to Mrs. Howe, which she -acknowledged in fitting terms, while the audience gave three cheers and -a tiger for the author of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ - -“Mrs. Howe advanced to the footlights, beaming with pleasure. She then -said: - -“‘My dear friends, I cannot, with my weak voice, reach this vast -assemblage; but I will endeavor to have some of you hear me. I join in -this celebration with thrilled and uplifted heart. I remember those -camp-fires, I remember those dreadful battles. It was a question with -us women, “Will our men prevail? Until they do, they will not come -home.” How we blessed them when they did; how we blessed them with our -prayers when they were on the battle-field. Those were times of sorrow; -this is one of joy. Let us thank God who has given us these victories.’ - -“As Mrs. Howe was about to resume her seat the audience rose _en -masse_, and from the dress-circle to the upper gallery rung a round of -cheers. - -“The audience remained standing while Mr. Hughes sang the stirring -words of the hymn, and joined heartily in the chorus as by request. -At the last chorus Mrs. Howe stepped forward and joined in the song, -closing with a general flutter of handkerchiefs.” - -My mother visited the Pacific coast twice in the latter years of her -life, as her beloved sister, Mrs. Adolphe Mailliard, then lived there. -She was received in a way that was very gratifying to her and her -family. - -One of the most dearly prized privileges of a self-governing people -is that of constant grumbling over the administration of affairs and -of finding fault with our rulers--who, in the last analysis, are -ourselves. In England men write to the _Times_; in America we write -to many papers and we complain endlessly. This would evidently be -impossible under a despotic Government, and it sometimes seems as -if we indulged too freely in depreciating our own country and its -institutions. Yet deep down in the hearts of our people is a love -of our native land which flames forth brightly on great occasions. -The country which produced the “Battle Hymn” is not lacking in true -patriotism. So long as our people use it to express their deepest -emotions we need fear no serious treason to the Republic. The danger -of our frequent fault-finding is that we thus allow our righteous -indignation to evaporate in mere words. - -Supineness in politics, an indolence which permits unworthy men to -usurp the reins of government, is one of our great sins as a nation. -Yet the corrupt manipulator who goes too far meets an uprising of -popular indignation which thoroughly surprises him. From the New York -_Sun_ we quote the story of such a day of retribution. - -At the downfall of Boss Croker “a throng gathered in Madison Square. -Not even in a Presidential election in recent years have there been -such innumerable hosts as gathered in front of the Fifth Avenue Hotel -and the Hoffman House last night to hear of the doom of Croker and -his cronies. Cheer upon cheer ascended when the mighty army read that -Low was far ahead and would win in the great battle.” Some one struck -up the “Battle Hymn.” “All over the square were heard the thousands -singing this great hymn.... There has not been such a scene in New York -City since war days.” - -Among the notable occasions we must certainly count the unveiling -of the Shaw Monument. Here the art of St.-Gaudens has preserved in -immemorial stone the story of Robert Gould Shaw and his colored -soldiers, the heroes of Fort Wagner. The monument stands just within -old Boston Common, facing the State House. The ceremonies of dedication -included a procession and a meeting in Music Hall, where Prof. William -James and Booker Washington made the principal addresses, and the -“Battle Hymn” was sung. - -My mother is best known as the author of the “Battle Hymn.” Soon after -the war she began her efforts in behalf of the woman’s cause, which -eventually won for her the great affection of her countrywomen as well -as a reputation extending to foreign shores. She was deeply interested -both in the club and in the suffrage movement. She lived to see the -full flowering of the former and the partial success of the latter. -Despite the many weary trials and delays she never lost faith in the -ultimate victory of the suffrage cause. “I shall live to see women win -the franchise in New York State,” she declared, not many years before -her death. - -In the early days of the club movement my mother, like most of her -fellow-suffragists, thought it best not to mingle the two issues. -While the more advanced thinkers among the club women believed in the -enfranchisement of their sex, the majority did not. - -At last the two movements--like two rapidly flowing streams that have -long been drawing nearer together--joined in one mighty river. I have -often wished my mother could have lived to see that wonderful day at -Chicago when the General Federation of Women’s Clubs--an association -comprising more than one and a half million women--declared themselves, -amid cheers and tears, in favor of votes for women. Every one was -deeply moved; the delegates embraced one another, and the “Battle Hymn” -was sung--a hymn this time of joyous thanksgiving for the victory -obtained, yet of solemn dedication, too, to the hard labor still to be -performed before the good fight could be fully won. - -My mother describes one occasion where the “Battle Hymn” was given in -dumb show before the Association for the Advancement of Women. She -was very much attached to this pioneer society, of which she was the -president during many years. The association held annual congresses -in different parts of the United States, the proceedings eliciting -much interest. When they were at X---- one of the members invited -the society to visit a school for young girls of which she was the -principal. - -“After witnessing some interesting exercises we assemble in the large -hall, where a novel entertainment has been provided for us. A band of -twelve young ladies appear upon the platform. They wear the colors of -‘Old Glory,’ but after a new fashion, four of them being arrayed from -head to foot in red, four in blue, and four in white. While the ‘John -Brown’ tune is heard from the piano, they proceed to act in graceful -dumb show the stanzas of my ‘Battle Hymn.’ How they did it I cannot -tell, but it was a most lovely performance.”[30] - -In the early days of the woman movement a hard struggle was -necessary in order to secure for girls the advantages of the higher -education. Into this my mother threw herself with her accustomed -zeal. A lifelong student and lover of books, she ardently desired to -secure for other women the advantages she herself so highly prized. -Enjoying robust health, and accustomed to prolonged mental labor, -she never doubted the capacity of her sex for serious study. So, -despite the gloomy prognostications of learned doctors (all men), -she and her fellow-suffragists persevered until the battle was won. -Thus it was very fitting that the three institutions which bestowed -honorary degrees upon her--Tufts College, Brown University, and Smith -College--all counted women among their students. Her youngest daughter, -Maud Howe Elliott, thus describes the scene at Providence:[31] - -“On June 16th (1909) Brown University, her husband’s _alma mater_ -and her grandfather’s, conferred upon her the degree of Doctor of -Laws.... Her name was called last. With the deliberate step of age, she -walked forward, wearing her son’s college gown over her white dress, -his mortar-board cap over her lace veil. She seemed less moved than -any person present; she could not see what we saw, the tiny gallant -figure bent with four score and ten years of study and hard labor. -As she moved between the girl students who stood up to let her pass, -she whispered: ‘How tall they are! It seems to me the girls are much -taller than they used to be.’ Did she realize how much shorter she was -than she once had been? I think not. Then, her eyes sparkling with fun -while all other eyes were wet, she shook her hard-earned diploma with -a gay gesture in the faces of those girls, cast on them a keen glance -that somehow was a challenge, ‘Catch up with me if you can!’” The band -played the air of the “Battle Hymn” and applause followed her as she -went back to her seat. - -“She had labored long for the higher education of women, suffered -estrangement, borne ridicule for it--the sight of those girl graduates, -starting on their life voyage equipped with a good education, was -like a sudden realization of a lifelong dream, uplifted her, gave her -strength for the fatigues of the day.” - -A similar scene was enacted in October, 1910, shortly before her death, -when Smith College conferred the same degree upon her. - -“Opposite the platform, as if hung in air, a curving gallery was -filled with white-clad girls, some two thousand of them; as she entered -they rose like a flock of doves, and with them the whole audience. They -rose once more when her name was called, last in the list of those -honored with degrees, and as she came forward, the organ pealed, and -the great chorus of fresh young voices broke out with-- - - “‘Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,’ - -“It was the last time.”[32] - - - - -VII - -HOW AND WHERE THE AUTHOR RECITED IT - -The simplicity and deep earnestness of her manner--Her clear and - musical voice which never grew old--How Susan B. Anthony “mixed up” - two songs--Gladdened by the love and honor which it brought her, Mrs. - Howe repeats the “Battle Hymn” in all parts of the country before - all sorts of audiences, small and great--Why its appeal to the human - heart is universal. - - -It may be imagined that the heart of the woman who wrote the “Battle -Hymn” was greatly gladdened by the love and honor which it brought -her. She enjoyed to the full the beautiful affection shown her by -her countrymen and countrywomen, and, in my opinion, her happy and -sympathetic relations with them prolonged her life. She was glad to -live, despite the physical weakness of old age, because she knew that -she was widely beloved and could still be of use. Her mind remained -clear and brilliant to the very last. - -The honors paid her she received with the humility that dreads -over-praise. In her journal she questions her worthiness to be made so -much of, and hopes to the end that she may be able to do something of -value to mankind. - -The recital of her “Battle Hymn” gave so much pleasure that she was -very willing to repeat it, under suitable circumstances. She was asked -to do so at all times and seasons and in all sorts of places. People -who requested her to recite her war lyric at the close of a lecture did -not realize the fatigue that it entailed upon a person no longer young -and already weary with speaking. Yet I doubt if she ever refused, when -it was possible for her to comply with the request. Not long before her -death, some ladies, calling upon her at her summer home near Newport, -begged her to recite then and there the “Battle Hymn.” She was loth to -do so, feeling the solemn words were not at all in keeping with the -light and pleasant chat of a morning visit. As one of the callers was -frankly an old lady, my mother at length consented. According to her -custom when asked to recite under such circumstances, she withdrew for -a few minutes before beginning. - -There are thousands of people now living, I suppose, who have heard -the author’s recitation of the “Battle Hymn.” Yet because there are -thousands who never did hear it, and because these things slip so -easily out of mind, it is well to give some description of it “_Lest we -forget_.” - -My mother repeated the verses of the hymn simply, yet with a solemnity -that was all the more impressive because there was no effort at -elocutionary or dramatic effect. Yet there was sufficient variety in -the recitation to avoid any approach to monotony. Thus she repeated the -lines - - “O be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet!” - -with uplifted hands, a downward glance at her feet, and voice slightly -raised. Her distinct enunciation and the clear, musical tones of a -voice that never grew old, made the words audible even in a large -auditorium. - -Her deeply serious manner, corresponding so well as it did with the -solemn, prophetic words of the “Battle Hymn,” made the recitation very -impressive. - -We saw before us the woman who had been privileged to speak the word -for the hour, in the dark days of her country’s history. It was like -seeing some priestess of old delivering the sacred oracle to her -people. Though the message was repeated so many times, it never lost -its power to stir the souls of those who heard it. - -It should be said that the habit of speaking very carefully, my mother -formed early in life. Having a brother who stammered, she was very -anxious to avoid that defect of speech. The beauty of her voice was due -to its careful training in the Italian school of singing in her youth. -Doubtless the habit of public speaking also tended to preserve it. - -She occasionally repeated “The Flag,” a more dramatic and more personal -poem than the “Battle Hymn.” Her rendering of it, accordingly, was more -dramatic. - -On public occasions my mother was often introduced as “The author of -‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’” Sometimes the introducer would, by -mistake, substitute the name of another war song, good of its kind, -but hardly to be compared with my mother’s hymn. She used to say, -rather plaintively, that Miss Susan B. Anthony (the well-known suffrage -leader) _would_ mix up the two songs, introducing her as “_The author -of the ‘Battle Cry of Freedom.’_” - -It was a joy to her to be associated with the “Battle Hymn,” yet she -sometimes grieved a little because this so greatly overshadowed all her -other literary productions. She had labored long and earnestly with -pen and voice, writing both prose and poetry which won commendation -from her comrades in the world of letters. Hence she was glad to be -remembered as the author, not only of her war lyric, but of other -compositions as well. - -My mother was asked to repeat this more and more often as its fame -increased and as she herself became ever dearer to her countrymen. As -early as 1865 we find that she was urged to recite it at Newport at -the close of her lecture in Mr. Richard Hunt’s studio. Among those in -the audience was George Bancroft, the historian, a prominent figure -in Newport society of the olden days. Mr. Bancroft had held various -offices under the Federal Government, that of Secretary of the Navy -among others. When the Civil War broke out there was a good deal of -secession feeling among the summer residents of the watering-place, but -Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft were steadfastly loyal to the Union. - -It is interesting to note that among the many places where its author -recited the “Battle Hymn,” at least one city in the heart of the South -is included. Mrs. Howe spent the winter of 1884-85 in New Orleans, -having been invited to preside over the woman’s department of the -exposition held there in that year. - -The experience involved much hard work, but also much pleasure. She -made many friends in the Crescent City, whither she and I returned -eleven years later for a congress of the Association for the -Advancement of Women. We were the guests of her old friend, Mrs. King, -the mother of Grace King, the novelist, and were entertained by mother -and daughters with charming hospitality. - -I confess that it surprised me when, at an afternoon reception in the -King drawing-room, my mother was asked to repeat the “Battle Hymn,” and -did so. This showed us how much the old ill-feeling between North and -South had died out. It demonstrated also the universal and therefore -non-sectional quality of the poem, of which more will be said in the -following chapter. - -The “Battle Hymn” may be called universal in still another sense, since -it appeals to men and women of all religious creeds. When Mrs. Howe was -especially requested to recite it before a council of Jewish women, -it gave her “an unexpected thrill of satisfaction.” She was warmly -received and welcomed, but felt some anxiety lest the verse beginning -“In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea” might -disturb her hearers. The president assured her, however, that there -was nothing in it to hurt their feelings. - -My mother was so intimately associated with the woman movement that she -was called upon to repeat her war lyric before many feminine audiences. -We have spoken of her interest in women’s clubs. She was also -interested in the patriotic societies, being a member of the D. A. R. -and of the Colonial Dames of Rhode Island. One of the Boston chapters -of the former is named in honor of the Old South Meeting-house, a -venerated landmark of the city. When the congregation left their old -place of worship and moved to the Back Bay, it required a tremendous -effort on the part of the women of Boston to raise the necessary funds -and to save the historic building from destruction. Here, in December, -1906, the Old South Chapter had a meeting where there was “much good -speaking.” My mother recited her “Battle Hymn” and told them something -of her Revolutionary ancestors. She remembered her forebears with -affectionate pride as noble men and women whose example she strove to -imitate. - -A long life brings its penalties as well as its pleasures. Living to -the age of nearly ninety-two years, my mother survived all the friends -of her youth and most, if not all, of her contemporaries. Hence she -was called upon to attend many funerals, considering this a duty, in -accordance with old-fashioned ideas. A temporary lameness prevented her -attending the obsequies of the poet Longfellow, an early friend of her -husband’s, whom she also had known well for many years. She was able, -however, to testify to her friendship for the gentle poet by giving her -services for the Longfellow Memorial held at the Boston Museum. Here -she took part in an authors’ reading, reciting the “Battle Hymn,” as -well as some verses composed in honor of the poet. - -That she should be invited to do so shows a great change in public -opinion since the early years of their acquaintance. In the ’forties -and ’fifties it was not thought fitting that a lady should even sign -her name to a poem or a novel, much less read it in public. When my -mother published some verses in a volume edited by Mr. Longfellow in -those early days, they appeared as anonymous. By his advice, her first -book of poems, _Passion Flowers_, bore no name upon the title-page. - - - - -VIII - -TRIBUTES TO “THE BATTLE HYMN” - -From Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Conan Doyle, Ralph Waldo - Emerson, William Dean Howells,[33] U. S. Senator George F. Hoar, - Thomas Starr King, Ina Coolbrith, and others--The “Battle Hymn” and - the “Marseillaise”--What Rudyard Kipling said of it in “The Light - that Failed”--English reprints distributed among the soldiers of the - present war. - - -The appeal of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is so wide that it -takes in all classes of mankind, all, at least, who love freedom. - - Wherever rise the peoples, - Wherever sinks a throne, - The throbbing heart of freedom - Finds an answer in his own. - -So wrote the poet Whittier of Samuel Gridley Howe, remembering his -services to the Greeks, to the Poles and others. The lines are equally -true of his wife, Julia Ward Howe, and of the spirit animating her war -lyric. Although written in the midst of the greatest civil war that was -ever fought and won, there is no word of North or South, no appeal to -local pride or patriotism, no word of sectional strife or bitterness. -The God to whom appeal is made is the God of freedom. The enemy to be -overcome, the serpent who is to be crushed beneath the heel of the -hero, is slavery. - -It is amusing and yet sad to find that some literal souls have fancied -that my mother intended to designate the Southerners by “the grapes of -wrath.” Needless to say that the writer intended no such narrow and -prosaic meaning. - -The “Battle Hymn” may well be compared to the “Marseillaise.” The -man is to be pitied who can hear either of them without a thrill -of answering emotion. Both have the power to move their hearers -profoundly, yet they are as different as the two nationalities which -gave them birth. The French national hymn appeals to us by its -wonderfully stirring music more than by the words. We can imagine -how the latter aroused to a frenzy of feeling the men of the French -Revolution, when they rose to throw off the yoke of centuries of -oppression and misrule. Feudalism perished in France to the fiery music -of the “Marseillaise.” Slavery died in America to the old “John Brown” -tune, as slow and steadfast in movement as the Northern race who sang -it. - -In our war lyric we seem to hear an echo of the old cry, “The sword of -the Lord and of Gideon.” Yet we did not fully recognize its tremendous -power until Kipling christened it “_The terrible Battle Hymn of the -Republic_.” - -In the closing scene of _The Light that Failed_[34] we are shown a -group of English newspaper correspondents about to start for a war -in the Soudan. They are met together for a last evening of song and -merrymaking, yet one of their number “by the instinct of association -began to hum the terrible Battle Hymn of the Republic. Man after man -caught it up--it was a tune they knew well, till the windows shook to -the clang, the Nilghai’s deep voice leading: - - “‘Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.’” - -Sir A. Conan Doyle pays a similar tribute to its power in _Through the -Magic Door_: - -“Take the songs which they sang during the most bloody war which the -Anglo-Celtic race has ever waged--the only war in which it could have -been said that they were stretched to their uttermost and showed their -true form ... all had a playful humor running through them. Only one -exception do I know, and that is the most tremendous war song I can -recall; even an outsider in time of peace can hardly read it without -emotion. I mean, of course, Julia Ward Howe’s war song of the Republic, -with the choral opening line, - - ‘Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.’ - -If that were ever sung upon a battle-field the effect must have been -terrific.” - -During the present war in Europe, an English lady has had a large -number of copies of the “Hymn” printed and distributed, through the -Young Men’s Christian Association, to the soldiers. They contain the -following explanation: “This magnificent ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ -was written in 1861 by a famous American lady, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, -for the Army of the Northern States of America, which were then engaged -in a ‘Holy War’ to rid the South of slavery and to preserve the Union -of the States. It is said to have done more to awaken the spirit of -patriotism and to have inspired more deeds of heroism than any other -event of the American Civil War.” - -It is pleasant and heartening to read these tributes of praise from -distinguished Englishmen. That our “Battle Hymn of the Republic” should -so strongly appeal to them shows us the essential unity of the two -great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race, even though oceans roll between -Great Britain and America. - -The strange glory that came over the face of Abraham Lincoln and the -tears he shed on hearing the “Battle Hymn” will always be, for his -countrymen, the most precious tribute to its power. - -“The chaplain afterward stated that in his conversation with Mr. -Lincoln at his reception, the President said to him, ‘Take it all in -all, the song and the singing, that was the best I ever heard.’”[35] - -To the steadfast and courageous soul of another great American, who -also has held the high office of President of these United States, -Theodore Roosevelt, this war hymn strongly appealed. His book, _Fear -God and Take Your Own Part_, is prefaced by “The Battle Hymn of the -Republic” and by the following dedication: - - “This book is dedicated to the memory of - JULIA WARD HOWE - -because in the vital matters fundamentally affecting the life of the -Republic she was as good a citizen of the Republic as Washington and -Lincoln themselves. She was in the highest sense a good wife and a good -mother, and therefore she fulfilled the primary law of our being. She -brought up with devoted care and wisdom her sons and her daughters. -At the same time she fulfilled her full duty to the commonwealth from -the public standpoint. She preached righteousness and she practised -righteousness. She sought the peace that comes as the handmaiden of -well-doing. She preached that stern and lofty courage of soul which -shrinks neither from war nor from any other form of suffering and -hardship and danger if it is only thereby that justice can be served. -She embodied that trait more essential than any other in the make-up of -the men and women of this Republic--the valor of righteousness.” - -In the letter given below, Hon. George F. Hoar, United States Senator -from Massachusetts, compares “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” with the -“Marseillaise” and with the “British National Anthem.” - - WORCESTER, MASS., _May 22, 1903_. - - I was thinking, just as I got your letter asking me to send a - greeting to your meeting and to Mrs. Howe, of the great power, in - framing the character of nations, of their National Anthems. Fletcher - of Saltoun said, as every child knows, “Let me make the songs of a - people, and I care not who make their laws.” No single influence has - had so much to do with shaping the destiny of a nation, as nothing - more surely expresses national character, than what is known as the - National Anthem. France adopted for hers the “Marseillaise.” Its - stirring appeal - - Sons of France, awake to glory! - - led the youth of France to march through Europe, subduing kingdoms - and overthrowing dynasties, till “forty centuries looked down on them - from the pyramids.” At last the ambition of France perished and came - to grief, as every unholy ambition is destined to perish and come to - grief, and her great Emperor died in exile at St. Helena. - - Is there anything more cheap and vulgar than the National Anthem of - our English brethren, “God Save the King”? - - O Lord our God, arise! - Scatter his enemies - And make them fall. - Confound their politics, - Frustrate their knavish tricks; - On him our hopes we fix; - God save us all! - - England, I hope, knows better now. But she has acted on that motto - for a thousand years. - - New England’s Anthem, - - The breaking waves dashed high, - - one of the noblest poems in all literature, was written by a woman. - - We waited eighty years for our American National Anthem. At last God - inspired an illustrious and noble woman to utter in undying verse - the thought which we hope is forever to animate the soldier of the - Republic. - - In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, - With a glory in His bosom which transfigures you and me; - As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, - While God is marching on! - - Julia Ward Howe cannot yet vote in America. But her words will be an - inspiration to the youth of America on many a hard-fought field for - liberty many a century after her successors will vote. - - I am faithfully yours, - GEORGE F. HOAR. - - MISS ALICE STONE BLACKWELL. - -In the journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson we find this tribute to his -friend, Julia Ward Howe: - -“I honour the author of the ‘Battle Hymn’ and of ‘The Flag.’ She was -born in the city of New York. I could well wish she were a native of -Massachusetts. We have had no such poetess in New England.” - -The little bit of State pride voiced in the regret that my mother was -not a native of the old Bay State, surprises us in a man of such wide -sympathies as Mr. Emerson. In Whittier’s early poems also the local -feeling is strongly pronounced. We should remember, however, that -during the nineteenth century a good deal of sectional feeling still -existed in the different States. The twentieth century finds us more -closely united as a people than we have ever been before. - -Edmund Clarence Stedman happily characterizes the war hymn in the -following passage. It occurs in a letter to me, asking that my mother -would copy it for him. - -“I can well understand what a Frankenstein’s monster such a creation -grows to be--such a poem as the ‘Battle Hymn’ when it has become the -sacred scroll of millions, each one of whom would fain obtain a copy of -it.”[36] - -Those who have visited the White Mountains will remember that one of -the peaks is called “Starr King.” It was named for Thomas Starr King, -a noted Unitarian preacher in the middle of the nineteenth century. -Shortly before the Civil War he accepted a call to San Francisco. In -addition to officiating in the church there he soon took upon his -shoulders a task that was too heavy for his somewhat frail physique. -This was nothing less than persuading the people of California to -remain loyal to the Union. There was a good deal of secession sentiment -on the Pacific coast in 1861. Starr King and his fellow-Unionists -succeeded in their undertaking, but he paid the penalty of overwork -with his life. Hence his memory is beloved and revered on the shores -of the Pacific as well as on those of the Atlantic. One can imagine -what the “Battle Hymn” must have meant to him, weary as he was with his -strenuous labors. He pronounced it “a miraculously perfect poem.” - -Another “Spray of Western Pine” was contributed to the garland of -praise by Ina Coolbrith, one of the last survivors of the golden age of -California literature. - - JULIA WARD HOWE - - When with the awful lightning of His glance, - Jehovah, thro’ the mighty walls of sea - His people led from their long bondage free,-- - A Woman’s hand, too light to lift the lance, - Miriam, the Prophetess, with song and dance, - With timbrel, and with harp and psaltery, - Struck the proud notes of triumphs yet to be, - And voiced her Israel’s deliverance. - - So in our own dear Land, in strife to save - Another race oppressed, when light grew dim, - And the Red Sea of blood loomed fatefully - To overwhelm, the God of freedom gave - Thro’ Woman’s lips His sacred battle hymn - That rang thro’ combat on to victory! - -When memorial services were held in honor of my mother, Boston’s -great Symphony Hall was crowded to its utmost capacity. Many were -the beautiful tributes to her given by men and women of national -reputation. None, however, equaled in heartfelt eloquence the speech of -Lewis, the distinguished negro lawyer. As he poured out the gratitude -of his race to the woman who had written “The Battle Hymn of the -Republic,” I suddenly realized for the first time what the words meant -to the colored people. - - As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free. - -“To make us, black men and black women, free!” The appeal was to the -white men of our country, bidding them share the freedom they so -dearly prized with the despised slave. And this triumphant gospel of -liberty with its stirring chorus of “Glory, glory, hallelujah” was -sung wherever the Northern army went. It was the first proclamation of -emancipation. If it moves us, how must it have affected the people to -whom it was a prophecy of the longed-for deliverance from bondage. - - - - -IX - -MRS. HOWE’S LESSER POEMS OF THE CIVIL WAR - -Her poetic tribute to Frederick Douglass--“Left Behind,” “Our - Orders,” “April 19”--“The Flag” followed the second battle of Bull - Run--“The Secesh” in the Newport churches--“The First Martyr,” “Our - Country,” “Harvard Student’s Song,” “Return”--How “Our Country” lost - its musical setting--“The Parricide” written on the day of Lincoln’s - funeral to express her reverence. - - -My mother’s natural mode of expressing herself was by poetry rather -than by prose. She wrote verses from her earliest years up to the time -of her death. It is true that some of her best work took the form of -prose in her essays, lectures, and speeches,[37] yet whenever her -feelings were deeply moved she turned to verse as the fittest vehicle -for her use. - -We have seen that she began to write poems protesting against human -slavery at an early period of her career. Thus her first published -“On the Death of the Slave Lewis.” In _Words for the Hour_ we find -several poems dealing with slavery, the struggle in Kansas, the -attack on Sumner, and kindred subjects. The titles of these and some -quotations from them are given in Chapter I. The verses on “Tremont -Temple” contain tributes to Sumner and Frederick Douglass, the negro -orator. The first two are as follows: volume, _Passion Flowers_ (1853), -contained verses - - Two figures fill this temple to my sight, - Whoe’er shall speak, their forms behind him stand; - One has the beauty of our Northern blood, - And wields Jove’s thunder in his lifted hand. - - The other wears the solemn hue of Night - Drawn darker in the blazonry of pain, - Blotting the gaslight’s mimic day, he slings - A dangerous weapon, too, a broken chain. - -When the Civil War broke out, she poured forth the feelings that -so deeply moved her in a number of poems. “The Battle Hymn of the -Republic” is the best known of these, as it deserves to be. The -others, however, while varying as to merit, show the same patriotism, -indignation against wrong, and elevation of spirit. The woman’s -tenderness of heart breathes through them, too, as in the story of the -dying soldier: - - LEFT BEHIND - - The foe is retreating, the field is clear; - My thoughts fly like lightning, my steps stay here; - I’m bleeding to faintness, no help is near: - What, ho! comrades; what, ho! - - The battle was deadly, the shots fell thick; - We leaped from our trenches, and charged them quick; - I knew not my wound till my heart grew sick: - So there, comrades; so there. - - We charged the left column, that broke and fled; - Poured powder for powder, and lead for lead: - So they must surrender, what matter who’s dead? - Who cares, comrades? who cares? - - My soul rises up on the wings of the slain, - A triumph thrills through me that quiets the pain: - If it were yet to do, I would do it again! - Farewell, comrades, farewell! - -It will be remembered that the first blood shed in the Civil War was -in Baltimore. There the Massachusetts troops, while on their way -to defend the national capital, were attacked by “Plug-Uglies” and -several soldiers were killed. My mother thus describes the funeral in -Boston:[38] - -“We were present when these bodies were received at King’s Chapel -burial-ground, and could easily see how deeply the Governor was moved -at the sad sight of the coffins draped with the national flag. This -occasion drew from me the poem: - - “OUR ORDERS - - “Weave no more silks, ye Lyons Looms; - To deck our girls for gay delights! - The crimson flower of battle blooms, - And solemn marches fill the night. - - “Weave but the flag whose bars to-day - Drooped heavy o’er our early dead, - And homely garments, coarse and gray, - For orphans that must earn their bread!” - -(We give the first two of the six verses.) - -Other verses published in _Later Lyrics_ under the title “April 19” -commemorate the same event. They were evidently written in the first -heat of indignation at the breaking out of the rebellion, yet her -righteous wrath always gave way to a second thought, tenderer and more -merciful than the first. We see this in the last verse of the “Battle -Hymn” and in various other poems of hers. The opening verses of “April -19” are: - - A spasm o’er my heart - Sweeps like a burning flood; - A sentence rings upon mine ears, - Avenge the guiltless blood! - - Sit not in health and ease, - Nor reckon loss nor gain, - When men who bear our Country’s flag - Are set upon and slain. - -Of her “Poems of the War” “The Flag” ranks second in popular esteem and -has a place in many anthologies. She thus describes the circumstances -under which it was composed:[39] - -“Even in gay Newport there were sad reverberations of the strife. I -shall never forget an afternoon on which I drove into town with my son, -by this time a lad of fourteen, and found the main street lined with -carriages, and the carriages filled with white-faced people, intent on -I knew not what. Meeting a friend, I asked: ‘Why are these people here? -What are they waiting for and why do they look as they do?’ - -“‘They are waiting for the mail. Don’t you know that we have had a -dreadful reverse?’ Alas! this was the second battle of Bull Run. I -have made some record of it in a poem entitled ‘The Flag,’ which I -dare mention here because Mr. Emerson, on hearing it, said to me, ‘I -like the architecture of that poem.’” - -The opening verse is as follows: - - There’s a flag hangs over my threshold, whose folds are more dear to - me - Than the blood that thrills in my bosom its earnest of liberty; - And dear are the stars it harbors in its sunny field of blue - As the hope of a further heaven, that lights all our dim lives - through. - -Before the war, Newport had been a favorite resort for Southerners. -During the summer of 1861 a number were still there, and it must be -confessed some of them behaved with very little tact. According to -reports current at the time, these individuals carried politics inside -the church doors. When the prayer for the President of the United -States was read, they arose from their knees in order to show their -disapproval. At its conclusion they again knelt. Women would draw -aside the voluminous skirts then in fashion, to prevent their coming -in contact with the United States flag. I have always fancied that the -lines in “The Flag,” - - Salute the flag in its virtue, or pass on where others rule, - -were inspired by this behavior of “The Secesh,” as we then called them. -Some of these persons, although belonging to good society, had the bad -taste to boast in our presence of how the South was going to “whip” the -North. At a certain picnic among the Paradise Rocks, my mother resolved -to give these people a lesson in patriotism. One of our number, a -quiet, elderly lady, was selected to act as America, the queen of the -occasion. She was crowned with flowers, and we all saluted her with -patriotic songs. - -“The First Martyr” tells the story of a visit to the wife of John Brown -before the latter’s execution: - - My five-years’ darling, on my knee, - Chattered and toyed and laughed with me; - “Now tell me, mother mine,” quoth she, - “Where you went i’ the afternoon.” - “Alas! my pretty little life, - I went to see a sorrowing wife, - Who will be widowed soon.” - - * * * * * - - Child! It is fit that thou shouldst weep; - The very babe unborn would leap - To rescue such as he. - -“Our Country” contains no word about the civil strife, although it is -classed with “Poems of the War” in her volume entitled _Later Lyrics_. -A prize was offered for a national song while the war was in progress, -and Mrs. Howe sent in this poem, Otto Dresel composing the music. Mr. -Dresel was a prominent figure in the musical world of Boston for many -years and wrote a number of charming songs. - -The prize which had been offered for the national song was never -awarded, if I remember aright, and Mr. Dresel decided to use the tune -he had composed, for the “Army Hymn” of Oliver Wendell Holmes. This was -“superbly sung by L. C. Campbell, assisted by the choir and band” at -the opening exercises of the Great Metropolitan Fair held in New York -during the Civil War, for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission. - -“Our Country” thus lost its musical setting, to my mother’s regret. - - OUR COUNTRY - - On primal rocks she wrote her name, - Her towers were reared on holy graves, - The golden seed that bore her came - Swift-winged with prayer o’er ocean waves. - - The Forest bowed his solemn crest, - And open flung his sylvan doors; - Meek Rivers led the appointed Guest - To clasp the wide-embracing shores; - - Till, fold by fold, the broidered Land - To swell her virgin vestments grew, - While Sages, strong in heart and hand, - Her virtue’s fiery girdle drew. - - O Exile of the wrath of Kings! - O Pilgrim Ark of Liberty! - The refuge of divinest things, - Their record must abide in thee. - - First in the glories of thy front - Let the crown jewel Truth be found; - Thy right hand fling with generous wont - Love’s happy chain to furthest bound. - - Let Justice with the faultless scales - Hold fast the worship of thy sons, - Thy commerce spread her shining sails - Where no dark tide of rapine runs. - - So link thy ways to those of God, - So follow firm the heavenly laws, - That stars may greet thee, warrior-browed, - And storm-sped angels hail thy cause. - - O Land, the measure of our prayers, - Hope of the world, in grief and wrong! - Be thine the blessing of the years, - The gift of faith, the crown of song. - -The news of Lincoln’s assassination dealt a stunning blow to our -people. The rejoicings over the end of the Civil War were suddenly -changed to deep sorrow, indignation, and fear. How widely the -conspiracy spread we did not know. It will be remembered that other -officers of the Federal Government were attacked. My mother wrote that -nothing since the death of her little boy[40] had given her so much -personal pain. As usual, she sought relief for her feelings in verse. -“The Parricide,” written on the day of Lincoln’s funeral, expresses her -love and reverence for the great man, her horror of the “Fair assassin, -murder--white,” whom she bids: - - With thy serpent speed avoid - Each unsullied household light, - Every conscience unalloyed. - -As usual, compassion followed anger. “Pardon,” written a few days -later, after the death of Wilkes Booth, is the better poem of the two. - - PARDON - - WILKES BOOTH--APRIL 26, 1865 - - Pains the sharp sentence the heart in whose wrath it was uttered, - Now thou art cold; - Vengeance, the headlong, and Justice, with purpose close muttered, - Loosen their hold. - - Death brings atonement; he did that whereof ye accuse him,-- - Murder accurst; - But, from that crisis of crime in which Satan did lose him, - Suffered the worst. - - Back to the cross, where the Saviour uplifted in dying - Bade all souls live, - Turns the reft bosom of Nature, his mother, low sighing, - Greatest, forgive! - -On July 21, 1865, Harvard University held memorial exercises in honor -of her sons who had given their lives for their country. The living -graduates of that day numbered only twenty-four hundred, including the -aged, sick, and absent. Of these more than five hundred went out to -fight in behalf of the Union, many of them to return no more. Their -names may be seen engraved on the marble tablets of Memorial Hall, -Cambridge, a daily lesson in patriotism to the undergraduates who -frequent it. Full of fun and nonsense as the latter are, they will -permit no disrespect to the memory of the heroes of the Civil War. If -visitors enter without removing their hats, an instant clamor arises, -forcing them to do so. - -On this Commencement day of 1865 a notable assemblage gathered at -Harvard. In addition to other distinguished people there were present, -as Governor Andrew said in his address, a “cloud of living witnesses -who have come back laden with glory from the fields where their -comrades fell.” Phillips Brooks made a prayer, Ralph Waldo Emerson and -others spoke. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Rev. Charles T. Brooks, James -Russell Lowell, his brother Robert, John S. Dwight, and Mrs. Julia -Ward Howe contributed poems. The verses of the latter were read by her -friend, Mr. Samuel Eliot. The opening ones are as follows: - - RETURN - - They are coming, oh my Brothers, they are coming! - From the formless distance creeps the growing sound, - Like a rill-fed forest, in whose rapid summing, - Stream doth follow stream, till waves of joy abound. - - These have languished in the shadow of the prison, - Long with hunger pains and bitter fever low; - Welcome back our lost, from living graves arisen, - From the wild despite and malice of the foe. - -Another of her war poems speaks in the name of the sons of the old -university. When it was published in the newspapers, a careless -typesetter made some errors in setting it up. I remember how troubled -she was when the line - - O give them back, thou bloody breast of Treason-- - -was printed “beast” of Treason. - -We give a single verse of the “Harvard Student’s Song”: - - Remember ye how, out of boyhood leaping, - Our gallant mates stood ready for the fray, - As new-fledged eaglets rise, with sudden sweeping, - And meet unscared the dazzling front of day? - Our classic toil became inglorious leisure, - We praised the calm Horatian ode no more, - But answered back with song the martial measure, - That held its throb above the cannon’s roar. - -The other “Poems of the War” published in _Later Lyrics_ are entitled -“Requital,” “The Question,” “One and Many,” “Hymn for a Spring -Festival,” “The Jeweller’s Shop in War-time,” and “The Battle -Eucharist.” - -In these we see how deeply the writer’s soul was oppressed by the -sorrow of the war and the horrors of the battle-field. We see, too, how -it turned ever for comfort and encouragement to the Cross and to the -Lord of Hosts. - - - - -X - -MRS. HOWE’S LOVE OF FREEDOM AN INHERITANCE - -Stories of Gen. Francis Marion--Mrs. Howe’s kinship with the “Swamp - Fox”--The episode that saved “Marion’s Men”--The splendid sword - that rusted in its scabbard--John Ward, one of Oliver Cromwell’s - Ironsides--Samuel Ward, the only Colonial governor who refused to - enforce the Stamp Act--Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island and - champion of religious liberty. - - -We have seen that my mother’s love of freedom was in part the result -of environment. It was also an inheritance from men who had fought for -civil and religious liberty, with the sword and with the pen, on both -sides of the Atlantic. Of the founder of the Ward family in America, we -know that he fought for the English Commonwealth and against “Charles -First, tyrant of England.” He was one of Oliver Cromwell’s Ironsides, -serving as an officer in a cavalry regiment. After the republic -perished and the Stuart line in the person of Charles II. returned to -the throne, doughty old John Ward came to America, bringing his good -sword with him. Whether it was ever used on this side of the water, the -record does not say, but it was preserved in the family for nearly a -century. - -His descendants held positions of trust and responsibility under the -State, his grandson and great-grandson being each in his turn governor -of Rhode Island. The latter, Gov. Samuel Ward, has the distinction -of being the only Colonial governor who refused to take the oath to -enforce the Stamp Act. As the Chief Executive of “little Rhody” was -chosen by the people, his views were naturally more democratic than -those of governors appointed by the crown. Still, it took courage to -refuse to obey the royal mandate. He early foresaw the separation -from Great Britain and wrote to his son in 1766, “These Colonies are -destined to an early independence, and you will live to see my words -verified.” He was a member of the Continental Congresses of 1774 and -1775. The latter resolved itself into a committee of the whole almost -every day, and Governor Ward was constantly called to the chair on such -occasions, until he was seized with fatal illness, March 13, 1776, -dying soon afterward. - -At this time vaccination had not been discovered, the only preventive -of the terrible scourge of smallpox being inoculation. Now Governor -Ward could not spare time for the brief illness which this process -involved. In addition to his duties in Congress he was obliged, owing -to the physical disability of his colleague, Gov. Stephen Hopkins, to -conduct all the official correspondence of the Rhode Island delegation, -with the Government and citizens of the colony. His services were -required on many committees, notably on the secret committee which -contracted for arms and munitions of war. Hence, worn down by overwork, -he fell an easy victim to smallpox. He died three months before his -colleagues signed the Declaration of Independence. As he early saw the -necessity of separation from the mother country, he would certainly -have affixed his signature to it had he lived. His descendants may be -pardoned for thinking that he made a great mistake in not taking the -time required for inoculation. - -Many of Governor Ward’s letters have been preserved. These show his -ardent patriotism as well as the devout religious spirit of the men of -1776. He writes to his brother: “I have realized with regard to myself -the bullet, the bayonet, and the halter; and compared with the immense -object I have in view they are all less than nothing. No man living, -perhaps, is more fond of his children than I am, and I am not so old as -to be tired of life; and yet, as far as I can now judge, the tenderest -connections and the most important private concerns are very minute -objects. Heaven save my country! I was going to say is my first, my -last, and almost my only prayer.” - -Gov. Samuel Ward was a Seventh-Day Baptist. The little church in which -he worshiped at Newport has all the charm of the best architecture of -that period. It now forms part of the Historical Society’s rooms. - -His son, Lieut.-Col. Samuel Ward, grandfather of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, -joined the Continental Army when the Revolution broke out. Governor -Ward writes of “the almost unparalleled sufferings of Samuel,” and -these were indeed severe. Of the ill-fated expedition to Quebec, -Colonel Ward writes: “We were thirty days in a wilderness that none -but savages ever attempted to pass. We marched one hundred miles upon -shore with only three days’ provisions, waded over three rapid rivers, -marched through snow and ice barefoot ... moderately speaking, we have -waded one hundred miles.” The result of this exposure was “the yellow -jaundice.” - -The Americans were overpowered by superior numbers, Colonel Ward being -taken prisoner with many others. He was also at Valley Forge in that -terrible winter when the American Army endured such great privations. - -It is interesting to note that Colonel Ward assisted in raising a -colored regiment in the spring of 1778. He commanded this in the -engagement on the island of Rhode Island, near the spot where his -granddaughter and her husband established their summer home a century -later. From the peaceful windows of “Oak Glen” one sees, in the near -foreground, the earthworks of the Revolution. - -In spite of all the hardships endured during the Revolutionary War, -Colonel Ward lived to be nearly seventy-six years of age. My mother -well remembered her grandfather with his courtly manner and mild, -but very observing, blue eyes. With the indulgence characteristic of -grandparents, he permitted the Ward brothers to play cards at his -house, a thing they were forbidden to do at home. - -The State of Rhode Island is represented in the statue-gallery of the -national Capitol by Roger Williams, pioneer of religious liberty and -founder of the State, and by Gen. Nathaniel Greene, who rendered such -important service during the Revolutionary War. My mother was related -to both men, being a direct descendant of the former. - -Whether or no Massachusetts was justified in driving out Roger -Williams, we will not attempt to decide. He was evidently a person who -delighted in controversy in a day when religious toleration was almost -unknown. - -To him belongs the honor of being the first to found a State “upon the -distinctive principle of complete separation of Church and State.” -Maryland followed not long after the example set by the “State of Rhode -Island and Providence Plantations.” - -Not in Massachusetts alone did people object to his doctrines. His -work, _The Bloody Tenent of Persecution_, was burned in England by the -common hangman, by order of Parliament. - -_George Fox Digged Out of His Burrowe_ seems a volume of formidable -proportions to the modern reader. With Quaker doctrines Roger Williams -had small patience, although he permitted members of the persecuted -sect to live in the Colony. It seems that G. Fox did not avail himself -of an offer of disputation on fourteen proposals. His opponents -claimed that he “slily departed” to avoid the debate. It went on -just the same, being “managed three days at Newport and one day at -Providence.” - -This volume, _George Fox_, etc.[41], is dedicated to Charles II. by -“Your Majestyes most loyal and affectionate Orator at the Throne of -Grace.” - -One can guess how much attention the Merrie Monarch paid to the -fourteen “proposalls”[42] and the elaboration thereof. - -The best testimony to the essential gentleness and goodness of this -eccentric divine is the behavior toward him of the Indians. During King -Philip’s war they marched on Providence with the intention of burning -it. - -“The well-attested tradition is that Roger Williams, now an old man, -alone and unarmed, save with his staff, went out to meet the band of -approaching Indians. His efforts to stay their course were unavailing, -but they allowed him to return unmolested, such was the love and -veneration entertained for him by these savages.” - -Of my mother’s ancestors on the maternal side, the most interesting was -her great-great-uncle, Gen. Francis Marion, the partisan leader of the -Revolution. She was descended from his sister Esther, “The Queen Bee of -the Marion Hive,” the general himself having no children. - -Many romantic stories are told of him. He was present at a -drinking-party during the siege of Charleston when the host, determined -that no one should leave the festivities until some particularly fine -Madeira had been disposed of, locked the door and threw the key out of -the window. Marion had no notion of taking part in any excesses, so -he made his escape by jumping out of the window. A lame ankle was the -result, and the Huguenot left the city, all officers unfit for duty -being ordered to depart. Marion took refuge now with one friend, now -with another, and again he was obliged to hide in the woods, while -recovering from this lameness. The accident was a most fortunate one, -however. If he had remained in Charleston he would have been obliged to -surrender and the brigade of “Marion’s Men” might never have existed. - -How he formed it in the darkest hour of the war in the South is a -matter of history. How, like so many will-o’-the-wisps, they led the -British a weary dance “thoro’ bush, thoro’ brier,” all through the -woods and the swamps of South Carolina, is a tale that delights the -heart of every school-boy. - - Well knows the fair and friendly moon - The men that Marion leads, - The glitter of the rifles, - The scamper of their steeds; - ’Tis life to guide the fiery barb - Across the moonlit plain: - ’Tis life to feel the night-wind - That lifts the tossing mane. - A moment in the British camp, - A moment and away, - Back to the pathless forest - Before the peep of day.[43] - -The best-known story tells of the British officer who was brought -blindfolded into Marion’s camp and entertained at a dinner consisting -solely of sweet potatoes. Small wonder that he made up his mind the -Americans could not be conquered, since they were able to subsist on -such scanty rations! - -Reversing the text of Scripture, General Marion provided his men with -swords made of saws, ammunition being scanty. He was as well known for -his humanity as for his ingenuity. It is said that once, wishing to -draw his sword, he found it rusted into the scabbard, so little had it -been used. - -When my mother, as occasionally happened in her later years, would -quietly slip off on some expedition which her daughters feared was too -much for her strength, we would remember her kinship with the “Swamp -Fox.” - -Of her parents, it should be said that both were deeply religious. -Her mother, Julia Cutler Ward, a woman of very lovely character and -intellectual tastes, died at the early age of twenty-seven. Her -father, Samuel Ward, one of the “Merchant Princes of Wall Street,” was -well known for his integrity, liberality, and public spirit. He was -especially interested in the causes of temperance and religion, being -“one of the foremost promoters of church-building in the then distant -West.” He was also one of the founders of the New York University, and -owned the first private picture-gallery in New York. - -Thus we see that my mother, like so many of her fellow-Americans, came -from a long line of God-fearing and patriotic men and women. In the -words of the “Battle Hymn” we hear not only the voice of the Union -Army, but an echo of all the aspiring thoughts and noble deeds of the -builders of our great Republic. - - -THE END - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Abraham Lincoln said of this law: “I look upon that enactment not -as a law, but as a violence from the beginning. It was conceived in -violence and is being executed in violence” (letter to Joshua F. Speed, -August 24, 1855). - -[2] From _The Journals and Letters of Samuel Gridley Howe_. Dana, Estes -& Co. - -[3] “Chev” was the abbreviation of Chevalier, a title bestowed on him -for his services in the Greek Revolution. He was called “Chev” by -certain intimate friends. - -[4] The Kansas and Nebraska bill. - -[5] Protesting against the Missouri Compromise. - -[6] From _Reminiscences_ by Julia Ward Howe. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. - -[7] _Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Struggle._ By Julia Ward Howe. - -[8] _Ibid._ - -[9] Letter from Dr. S. G. Howe to Charles Sumner. - -[10] _Journals and Letters of Samuel Gridley Howe._ Dana, Estes & Co. - -[11] History declares that a colleague of Brooks did thus stand, to -prevent any one’s coming to Sumner’s assistance. About the pistols, I -am not sure. - -[12] Sketch of John Albion Andrew by Eben F. Stone. - -[13] _Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Struggle._ By Julia Ward Howe. - -[14] _Reminiscences_ by Julia Ward Howe. - -[15] _Ibid._ - -[16] _Ibid._ - -[17] From _Journals and Letters of Samuel Gridley Howe_. Dana, Estes & -Co. - -[18] _Reminiscences._ - -[19] _Ibid._ - -[20] _Ibid._ - -[21] _Ibid._ - -[22] See Chap. ii, page 33. - -[23] _Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Struggle._ - -[24] _Reminiscences_, 1899. - -[25] In the reprint of the “Battle Hymn,” made in England for the use -of the soldiers during the present war, this discarded verse has, -through some misunderstanding, been included. - -[26] See _Julia Ward Howe_, Vol. II, Chap. xi. - -[27] This account of the day in Libby Prison is compiled from the -_Washington Star_ and from the _Life of Chaplain McCabe_. - -[28] _Life of Chaplain McCabe._ - -[29] _Ibid._ - -[30] _Reminiscences_ by Julia Ward Howe. - -[31] _Julia Ward Howe._ By Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott. - -[32] _Life of Julia Ward Howe._ - -[33] See Chapter IX. - -[34] In the later editions of the novel another scene is substituted -for this. - -[35] _Life of Chaplain McCabe_--“the singing chaplain.” - -[36] _Julia Ward Howe._ Houghton, Mifflin & Co. - -[37] Mr. Howells writes in his _Literary Boston Thirty Years Ago_: “I -heard Mrs. Howe speak in public and it seemed to me that she made one -of the best speeches I had ever heard.” - -[38] _Reminiscences_, p. 261. - -[39] _Ibid._, p. 258. - -[40] Samuel Gridley Howe, Jr., who died in May, 1863, aged three and a -half years. - -[41] _George Fox Digged Out of His Burrowe._ - -[42] “Proposalls”--I here quote Roger Williams’ spelling. - -[43] William Cullen Bryant’s “The Song of Marion’s Men.” - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE BATTLE HYMN OF -THE REPUBLIC *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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