Poet and anti-slavery activist Julia Ward Howe wrote those words during the early years of the Civil War. The words came to her after she met with President Lincoln at the White House and saw soldiers fighting near Washington, DC.
Chris Coover is a specialist in American historical documents.
“That evening, she had a dream where this set of lyrics was presented to her, inspired by things she’d seen in the day. And she woke up in the middle of the night with these visions of Lincoln and battles and marching troops and wrote this rather remarkable series of verses.”
Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe wrote those words to the folk song “John Brown’s Body.” Her work quickly became a success with the Union soldiers and even President Lincoln himself.
“Lincoln loved this piece and asked for it to be performed on many occasions.”
In the years since the Civil War, the song has become an iconic musical work. It is often played at major political events.
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. used parts of the Battle Hymn in several of his speeches. He read some of the words at the close of a 1968 speech on the night before he was shot and killed.
“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
Late last year, Christie’s auction house sold what is thought to be the original manuscript of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The manuscript includes the signature of Julia Ward Howe. Christie’s estimated the value of the document at $250,000 to $400,000. But its final sales price was a surprising $782,500!
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25