"Battle Hymn Of The Republic"

Battle Hymn Of The Republic

“ Battle Hymn Of The Republic” was written by Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), a lady in torment about the blood shed during the American Civil War. She saw some Northern army soldiers marching one day as they were singing “John Brown’s Body.” This song was about a man who was an abolitionist that had led a raid to free slaves. She enjoyed the tune the troops were singing but the words could have been more appropriate. The next day she captured on paper the lyrics to “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Howe watched the soldiers singing in a Union army camp stationed on the Potomac River near Washington, D. C. From the window where she stayed, she could see the campfires and she thought about God’s trumpet “that shall never call retreat.” Howe woke up that next morning with the words echoing in her head. She recalled: “So I sprang out of bed and in the dimness found an old stump of a pen, which I remembered using the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.” Thus, “Battle Hymn Of The Republic” was born.

Battle Hymn Of The Republic

(1) 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.

Chorus:

Glory! glory! Hallelujah!

His truth is marching on!

(2) 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.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;

O be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

(3) In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His being that transfigures you and me;

As He died to make men holy let us live to make men free!

While God is marching on.

“Battle Hymn Of The Republic”is considered one of the finest American patriotic songs. Once, it was sung in President Abraham Lincoln presence. When the singing was over, a teary-eyed President Lincoln demanded, “Sing it again!” And so it was. The song was also used during the funerals of Senator Robert Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan.

“ Battle Hymn Of The Republic”

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