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Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
When on a trip to Washington D.C. with her husband Samuel at
the invitation of President Lincoln, Howe went to visit a Union army camp across the Potomac. While at the camp, Howe heard
the soldiers singing a song popular during the war, "John Brown's Body" which praised Brown as a martyr. A priest at
the camp asked Howe to write a new patriotic song to replace the "Brown" song. The result was a poem called "Battle Hymn of
the Republic" that was first published in 1862. After the poem gained popularity, the words replaced those of the "Brown"
song. The song came to be one of the most beloved patriotic songs in American history.
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
-Julia Ward Howe (1862)
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 loos'd the fateful lighting of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watcfires of a thousand circling camps,
They have builded Him an alter in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen 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.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth 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.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
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