THE AMAZING TRUE STORY BEHIND THE HYMN
PART 1
No one knows just when the first versions of the tune we know as “Battle Hymn of the Republic” began, because the first versions of the tune were sung orally and not from sheet music. This was in the early 1700s.
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More than a century later, John Brown, who believed that insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of racial slavery in the United States, participated in a number of abolition type raids in the Midwest - mainly in Kansas.
On October 16, 1859, he led a small army of eighteen men into the small town of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (today located in West Virginia).
His plan was to instigate a major slave rebellion in the South. He planned to seize the arms and ammunition in the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry and arm slaves in the area. Then he intended to move south along the Appalachian Mountains to attract additional slaves to his cause. He had no rations. He had no escape route. His plan was doomed from the very beginning. Yet, it did succeed to deepen the divide between the North and South.
John Brown and his men stayed in a rented farmhouse in the days before the raid on Harper's Ferry. When he and his cohorts marched into an unsuspecting Harper's Ferry, they seized the federal complex with little resistance. It consisted of an armory, the arsenal and an engine house. He then sent a patrol out into the country to contact slaves. His patrol also collected several hostages, including the great grand-nephew of George Washington, and sat down to wait.
The slaves did not rise to Brown’s support and do what Brown expected them to do. Local citizens and militia surrounded him and his men. They exchanged gunfire, and two townspeople and eight of Brown's company were killed. These troops were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, who arrived from Washington to arrest Brown.
They stormed the engine house where Brown had withdrawn and captured him and the remaining members of his group. They turned them over to Virginia authorities to be tried for treason. Brown was quickly tried and a little over a month later, on December 2, was hanged. Today, we would consider that a pretty fast trial and execution!
Historians agree that the Harpers Ferry raid and Brown's trial, both of which were covered extensively by the national press, escalated tensions that led to the South's secession a year later and to the American Civil War.
The tune to “Battle Hymn of the Republic” morphed into a popular Union marching song that portrayed John Brown as a martyr. Here are the lyrics sung to the original tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
John Brown’s body lies a-mold’ring in the grave.
John Brown’s body lies a-mold’ring in the grave.
John Brown’s body lies a-mold’ring in the grave.
His soul goes marching on.
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
His soul goes marching on.
He captured Harper’s Ferry with his nineteen men so true.
He frightened old Virginia till she trembled through and through.
They hung him for a traitor, themselves the traitor crew.
His soul is marching on.
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
His soul is marching on.
John Brown died that the slave might be free.
John Brown died that the slave might be free.
John Brown died that the slave might be free.
But his soul is marching on.
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
His soul is marching on.
On Thursday, July 4, we’ll look at the just how and when the song became a hymn, and why it is now associated with Independence Day each year in the United States.