A song inside the war
Howe’s family biography recounts Chaplain Charles McCabe leading prisoners in the hymn after news of the Union victory at Gettysburg, and later singing it before Lincoln.
Song · A CLOSER LOOK
Battle Hymn of the Republic
ABOUT THIS SONG
Howe’s poem appeared in the February 1862 Atlantic. Set to the tune already associated with “John Brown’s Body,” its words carried the soldiers’ song into a biblical vision of the struggle over slavery.
The final stanza joins the beauty of Christ’s birth to a call for the living to accept the cost of making others free. The original text is here in full.
Selected passage
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.
Words by Julia Ward Howe · published 1862
My take
My favorite part is the stanza beginning “In the beauty of the lilies,” especially “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.”
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Original texts.
Battle Hymn of the Republic Full text
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.
A CLOSER LOOK
The story behind it.
A marching tune becomes a vision of judgment, sacrifice, and freedom.
A voice in Memphis
MLK ended his April 3, 1968 Mountaintop speech with the hymn’s opening words. The connection joins this song to another of the collection’s most important speeches.
START HERE
The Atlantic · February 1862 text (opens in a new tab)Source for Battle Hymn of the Republic: The Atlantic · February 1862 text.
Sources for this closer look
The Atlantic · February 1862 text (opens in a new tab)Howe (opens in a new tab)Mountaintop (opens in a new tab)FOLLOW THE CONNECTIONS
There’s a thread here.
Explore the original.
Follow the original source to explore the work in its own context.
Footnotes
1. McCabe, the prisoners, and Lincoln
The account of the prisoners’ singing and Lincoln asking to hear the hymn again appears in Howe’s family biography. It is presented as a later account of the song’s reception.
2. The selected recording
The linked 97th Regimental String Band recording sings “let us die to make men free.” The final stanza was checked against the downloaded audio. The link opens near that stanza.
Sources & credits
Introductions are grounded in the sources below. Collection notes and reading prompts provide an editorial starting point; personal opinions are identified in the collection’s content.
KEEP EXPLORING
Discover the person. Follow the work.
PersonJulia Ward Howe
Selected work associated with Julia Ward Howe.
START WITHBattle Hymn of the Republic
HistoryMusic
SpeechLincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
Both use religious language within the Civil War, with different tones of judgment and responsibility.
EXPLORE THIS WORKAbraham Lincoln
HistoryLeadershipWords
SongJohn Brown’s Body
Howe wrote new words for the tune soldiers already knew.
START WITHExplore the original
MusicHistory
SpeechI’ve Been to the Mountaintop
King closes the Mountaintop speech with the hymn’s opening words.
EXPLORE THIS WORKMartin Luther King Jr.
HistoryCivil rightsWords