Kevin Comtois , Dec 13, 2015
“John Brown’s Body,” written in 1861, was used specifically as a
marching song by the Massachusetts 12th Regiment. Their first public
performance of the song was July 18 on State Street in Boston, Massachusetts.
They sang it so many times in public the 12th Regiment became known as the
“Hallelujah Regiment.” Ironically, as the song became popular and spread to
other military units, an accident occurred drowning Sgt. John Brown of the 12th
regiment in the Shenandoah River. This depressed the regiment preventing them
from ever singing the song again.
The song’s melody came from a religious hymn that originated
in the early 19th century called “Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us." As the
war dragged on, “John Brown’s Body” spread throughout the nation and became one
of the most popular marching songs of the era.
Julia Ward Howe heard
“John Brown’s Body” one night in Washington, D.C. and decided that the Union
needed a more uplifting song than one about a man rotting away in the ground.
That evening, unable to sleep, Julia Howe wrote new words to the melody and
came up with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Since then, this song
has been used as a patriotic song of recruitment and loyalty to equality and
justice. Its creation, however, was a direct protest against the gruesome “John
Brown’s Body.”
-snip-
Folk singer Pete Seeger sings this song in this YouTube sound file. This sound file includes a photographic collage. Photographs of Black soldiers are included in that collage.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This post presents a YouTube sound file of the Civil War marching song "John Brown's Body". Information and comments about that song are also included in this post along with versions of its lyrics.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/08/john-browns-baby-sound-file-article.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents a YouTube video sound file of the children's parody song "John Brown's Baby". The lyrics for "John Brown's Baby" are included in this post along with an article excerpt and comments about that song.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unverified composer/s of this song. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the producers and publisher of the YouTube sound file that is embedded in this post.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "JOHN BROWN'S BODY"
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_Body
" "John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. According to an 1889 account, the original John Brown lyrics were a collective effort by a group of Union soldiers who were referring both to the famous John Brown and also, humorously, to a Sergeant John Brown of their own battalion. Various other authors have published additional verses or claimed credit for originating the John Brown lyrics and tune.
The "flavor of coarseness, possibly of irreverence"[1]: 374 led many of the era to feel uncomfortable with the earliest "John Brown" lyrics. This in turn led to the creation of many variant versions of the text that aspired to a higher literary quality. The most famous of these is Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which was written when a friend suggested, "Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune?" Kimball suggests that President Lincoln made this suggestion to Howe, though other sources[which?] do not agree on this point.[1]: 376
Numerous informal versions and adaptations of the lyrics and music have been created from the mid-1800s to the present, making "John Brown's Body" an example of a living folk music tradition.
History of the tune
[…]
Use [of the song “John Brown’s Body”] elsewhere
On May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina, recently
freed African-Americans and some white missionaries held a parade of 10,000
people, led by 3,000 Black children singing "John Brown's Body." The
march honored 257 dead Union soldiers whose remains the organizers had reburied
from a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. This is considered the first
observation of Decoration Day, now known as Memorial Day.[22]
The American consul in Vladivostok, Russia, Richard T. Greener, reported in 1906 that Russian soldiers were singing the song. The context was the 1905 Russian Revolution.[23]”…
History of the text of "John Brown's Body"
First public performance
At a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Warren, near Boston, on
Sunday May 12, 1861, the "John Brown" song was publicly played
"perhaps for the first time".[12] The American Civil War had begun
the previous month.
Newspapers reported troops singing the song as they marched in the streets of Boston on July 18, 1861, and there was a "rash" of broadside printings of the song with substantially the same words as the undated "John Brown Song!" broadside, stated by Kimball to be the first published edition, and the broadside with music by C. S. Marsh copyrighted on July 16, 1861, also published by C.S. Hall (see images displayed on this page). Other publishers also came out with versions of the "John Brown Song" and claimed copyright.[24]
"Tiger" Battalion writes the lyrics; Kimball's account
In 1890, George Kimball wrote his account of how the 2nd
Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia, known as the "Tiger"
Battalion, collectively worked out the lyrics to "John Brown's Body".
Kimball wrote:
We had a jovial Scotchman in the battalion, named John Brown
... and as he happened to bear the identical name of the old hero of Harper's
Ferry, he became at once the butt of his comrades. If he made his appearance a
few minutes late among the working squad, or was a little tardy in falling into
the company line, he was sure to be greeted with such expressions as
"Come, old fellow, you ought to be at it if you are going to help us free
the slaves"; or, "This can't be John Brown—why, John Brown is
dead." And then some wag would add, in a solemn, drawling tone, as if it
were his purpose to give particular emphasis to the fact that John Brown was
really, actually dead: "Yes, yes, poor old John Brown is dead; his body
lies mouldering in the grave."[25]
[…]
According to Kimball, these sayings became bywords among the
soldiers and, in a communal effort—similar in many ways to the spontaneous
composition of camp meeting songs described above—were gradually put to the
tune of "Say, Brothers":
Finally ditties composed of the most nonsensical, doggerel rhymes, setting for the fact that John Brown was dead and that his body was undergoing the process of dissolution, began to be sung to the music of the hymn above given. These ditties underwent various ramifications, until eventually the lines were reached…
[…]
The "John Brown" tune has proven popular for
folk-created texts, with many irreverent versions created over the years.
"The Burning of the School" is a well-known parody sung by
schoolchildren, and another version that begins "John Brown's baby has a
cold upon his chest" is often sung by children at summer camps.
An African-American version was recorded as "We'll hang
Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree".[42]”…
****
Excerpt #2
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=71356 "John Brown's Body"
Numbers added for referencing purposes only.
1.
Subject: RE: John Brown's Body
From: GUEST,Fred
Date: 10 May 01 - 11:59 PM
In the introduction to The Civil War Songbook (Dover Publications), Richard Crawford reports that the Battle Hymn (published 1862) was sung to the tune of John Brown's Body, which was sung to a Sunday School hymn tune. The publication reprinted for JB's Body was titled "Glory, Hallelujah" and has the primary name as "Ellsworth's body lies...", with "John Brown's" written beneath it in subscript. Crawford makes no comment to enlighten this situation.
There is then another set of verses listed as sung by the
Fourth Battalion of Rifles, 13th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. It has the
chorus starting "Glory! Glory! Glory for the North!"....
**
2.
Subject: RE: John Brown's Body
From: raredance
Date: 11 May 01 - 12:10 AM
When in doubt , throw another story into the pot. The source
of this is "The Singing Sixties" by W A and PW Heaps (1960 Univ
Oklahoma Press). They say that the tune was composed some time before 1855 by a
South Carolinian named William Steffe and had bcome popular at camp meetings
with a chorus line of "Say, brothers, will you meet us on Canaan's happy
shore?". When a battalion of the 12th Massachusetts Regiment was stationed
at Fort Warren in Boston early in the war, some of the members used the tune to
taunt a soldier named John Brown. The conversion to the Abolitionist John Brown
was not a big step. The song was published in Boston in 1861 by Oliver Ditson
& Co. with the title page: "the popular refrain of Glory, Hallelujah
as sung by the Federal Volunteers throughout the union. It became the marching
song of the 12th Regiment and quickly spread to other units when the 12th
Regiment was sent to the battle front. It had a catchy rhythm and soldiers
shouted the refrain on marches and many units added their own verses. When
abolition became an official reason for the war, the song was used at many
civilian political rallies and fund-raisers as well. It was variously called
"Tthe John Brown Song", "John Brown's Body", or "Glory
Hallelujah". A reproduction of the 1861 sheet music can be found in
"The Civil War Songbook" by Richard Crawford (1977 Dover
Publications). As alluded to by Uncle Jacques, the sheet music has 3
"glory's" in the second phrase of the refrain (but only two in the
first and third). It also has the name "Ellsworth" as an alternative to
"John Brown" , i.e both are printed. I do not know who Ellsworth
might have been. Because of the popularity of the tune a number of potential
and real poets came up with lyric versions that made no mention of John Brown.
The 13th Massachusetts Regiment went off to battle with this set:
Cheer for the
banner as we rally 'neath the stars,
As we join the Northern legion and are off for the wars,
Ready for the onset, for bullet, blood and scars!
Cheer for the dear old flag!
Glory!, Glory! Glory for the North!
Glory to the soldiers she is sending forth!
Glory!, Glory! Glory for the North!
They'll conquer as they go.
Howe wrote her religious marching lyrics in November of 1861
and they were first published annonymously in the February 1862 Atlantic
Monthly. Howe was piad $5. Sheet music published in 1862 in Boston by Oliver
Ditson & Co. (this is also reproduced in the Crawford book) has on the
title page: "Battle Hymn of the Republic, Adapted to the favorite melody
of "Glory, Hallelujah," written by Mrs. Dr. S. G. Howe for the
Atlantic Monthly". The tunes in the two sheet music pieces are the same
(including the 3 "glory's" in the second line of the refrain).
-snip-
Jim Krause, another commenter on this discussion thread wrote this in 11 May 01 - 01:56 PM:
..."Ellsworth was Elmer Ellsworth, a young friend of Abraham Linclon's. He was shot by an enraged pro-slavery hotel owner in Baltimore weeks before Ft. Sumpter. Ellsworth became a sort of martyr for the Abolitionist cause. He was an officer, a Lieutenant I think, in a Federal volunteer militia unit."...
**
3.
Subject: Lyr Add: JOHN BROWN'S ORIGINAL MARCHING SONG
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 11:53 PM
JOHN BROWN'S ORIGINAL MARCHING SONG
Tune- Brothers, Will You Meet Me.
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave; 3x
His soul's marching on!
Chorus:
Glory, halle-hallelujah! Glory, halle-hallelujah!
Glory, halle-hallelujah! his soul's marching on!
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back! 3x
His soul's marching on!
His pet lambs will meet him on the way; 3x
They go marching on!
They will hang Jeff Davis to a tree! 3x
As they march along!
Now three rousing cheers for the Union; 3x
As we are marching on!
J. H. Johnson, song publisher, Philadelphia, n. d. (1860-61?)
Source: American Memory Collection, Library of Congress
**
4.
Subject: RE: Origins:John Brown's Body/ Battle Hymn of Republic
From GUEST, Lighter
Date: 12 May 16 - 09:30 AM
The earliest appearance of the "Harper's ferry" words seems to have been in J. S. Dye's "History of the Plots and Crimes of the Great Conspiracy to Overthrow Liberty in the United States of America" (1866).
"When the soldiers struck up the John Brown song [at Charleston in 1865], it filled the eyes of the blacks with tears, and their hearts with joy to hear the boys sing:
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save,
But though he lost his life, in struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on,
Chorus—
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah !
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah !
His soul is marching on.
John Brown was a hero undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knew his valor when he fought her rights to save;
And now, though the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.
Glory, &c.
He captured Harper's Ferry with his nineteen men so true,
And he frightened old Virginny till she trembled through and through;
They hung him for a traitor, themselves a traitor crew,
But his soul is marching on.
Glory, &c.
John Brown was John the Baptist, of Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon throughout the sunny South the slaves shall all be free.
For his soul is marching on.
Glory, &c
The conflict that he heralded, he looks from Heaven to view,
On the army of the Union, with his flag red, white, and blue.
And Heaven shall ring with anthems, o'er the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.
Glory, .fee.
Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death-stroke of oppression, in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown, has brightened into day.
And his soul is marching on.
Glory, &c
**
4.
Subject: RE: Origins:John Brown's Body/ Battle Hymn of
Republic
From: Lighter
Date: 27 Mar 18 - 02:04 PM
From "War Anecdotes and Incidents of Army Life: Reminiscences from Both Sides of the Conflict between the North and the South," ed. by Albert Lawson (Cincinnati: Albert Lawson, 1888), pp. 109-110:
"JOHN BROWN'S BODY!"
A member of the Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment claims the honor of originating one of the most famous refrains of the war, as follows:
"The tune of 'John Brown' was adapted from a camp-meeting tune, 'Say, brothers, will you meet us?' This, in turn, was modeled from a song written for a fire company — 'Say, bummers, will you meet us?' The words originated with members of the 'Tiger Battalion,' Massachusetts Volunteer Militia; and as these members subsequently enlisted in the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Webster Regiment), we naturally claim words and music of the 'John Brown song.' It first appeared in April, 1861, in a quartet of the 'Tigers' — Jenkins, Edgerly, Purnette and John Brown — and was simply a sort of joke on the name of the last mentioned. He was a Scotchman, and failed to see any point in the witticism, which, of course, only made it more lasting. The Twelfth Massachusetts sang it in Boston harbor, at Fort Warren, were the first to sing it in New York City, July, 1861, where it made a sensation, and continued chanting it until it had become so common property as to have lost all novelty. We claim the adaptation of the tune and these words:
John Brown's body lies moldering in the
grave,
His soul goes
marching on.
Glory,
Hallelujah.
"Our regimental band (Matland's, of Brocton, Mass.) was the first to arrange and play the tune. Two of the quartet are now living in Boston, Mass. John Brown was drowned in Virginia, June, 1862, and Jenkins' whereabouts are unknown. All were sergeants in the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteers."
The assertion that the *tune* was composed in the mid 1850s to accompany a song about "bummers" (loafers, beggars, bums) was made in 1887 by the essayist Brander Matthews, but he provided no evidence for the claim and noted only that it was "his understanding."
The hymn titled "Brothers, Will You Meet Us" was copyrighted on Nov. 27, 1858, by G. S. Scofield of New York, with the familiar "Glory Hallelujah" tune. The chorus is:
Glory, glory,
hallelujah, (3)
Forever,
evermore!"
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This concludes Part II of this three part pancocojams series.
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