Shout, Shout the Battle Cry of Freedom

James M. McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford Press, 1988) has been sitting on my shelf for a number of months.  And as I read through other Civil War volumes, the more I would see this landmark book referenced—and for good reason.  Written in 1988, it received the coveted Pulitzer Prize. 

Before the book gets into even the Preface, the explanation of the book’s title is given.  Battle Cry of Freedom was a song written during the Civil War in 1862 by George F. Root, one of the leading Civil War composers.  If you have watched the Ken Burns’ documentary on the Civil War, you will hear this catchy tune all through the project. 

But what I did not realize is that there is a Union version and a Confederate version of Battle Cry of Freedom.  Below is the Union version:

Yes we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

(Chorus)

The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!

Down with the traitor, up with the star;

While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,

Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll fill our vacant ranks with a million freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And although they may be poor, not a man shall be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love best,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

And now the Confederate version, which was adapted by H.L. Schreiner and lyricist W.H. Barnes.

Our flag is proudly floating on the land and on the main,
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
Beneath it oft we've conquered, and we'll conquer oft again!
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!

(Chorus)

Our Dixie forever! She's never at a loss!

Down with the eagle and up with the cross!

We'll rally 'round the bonnie flag, we'll rally once again,

Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!

Our gallant boys have marched to the rolling of the drums.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
And the leaders in charge cry out, "Come, boys, come!"
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!--

Chorus

They have laid down their lives on the bloody battle field.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
Their motto is resistance -- "To the tyrants never yield!"
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!--

Chorus

While our boys have responded and to the fields have gone.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
Our noble women also have aided them at home.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!--

Chorus

In analyzing this, we see that they have a different view of ‘freedom’ that crystallized the battle cry.  In the Union version, the third verse has a phrase, “And although he may be poor / Not a man shall be a slave.”  In the Confederate version, their third verse has the phrase, “Their motto is resistance, to tyrants we’ll not yield!”

For the Union, the freedom cry was, eventually by late summer of 1862, to emancipate the slaves.  For the Confederates, it was to run the Yankees out of their land who tried to bend their will by forceful coercion (which is why Southerners sometime call it the War of Northern Aggression). 

Commonalities to Christians’ View of Freedom

When Christians begin to view freedom, they fall on one of two sides.  One side says, “I’m free in Christ—I have the liberty to do what I please.”  Paul dealt with this in Romans 6:1-4:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

By Paul saying that where sin increases, graces increases all the more (Romans 5:18-21), some said they were now free to sin so grace would increase.  No, this is not the type of freedom Scripture speaks of.  We are joined to Christ—that old life and old desire is gone (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

The other camp says that we are now free to obey Him:

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

Christians are now instruments of righteousness, set free to obey the desires given us by the Spirit. 

So many different views of freedom—but for the Christian, we have never been given liberty to sin!  Let’s be sure we define our freedom in Christ correctly. 

And praise Him that the Son has set us free (John 8:31-36). 

C.S.S. H.L. Hunley Shrouding Removed

A Confederate submarine made the news recently.  (Yes, you read that correctly.)

The world got an unobstructed view of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley for the first time since the Civil War on Thursday (January 12) as a massive steel truss that had surrounded the first sub in history to since an enemy warship was finally removed. 

The truss weighing more than 8 tons had shrouded the sub since it was raised off the coast of South Carolina almost a dozen years ago. 

To read this, click here. 

Book Review: “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Historians over the last century have ranked Abraham Lincoln has one of the top two presidents in the history of the United States—most rank him first by a long shot.  On the surface, the reason many cite is that his presidency coincided with the great turmoil and struggle in our history: the U.S. Civil War. 

Doris Kearns Goodwin, author and historian extraordinaire, has penned a classic that could be classified not simply under “History > American History > Civil War,” but could stand as one of the finest books on leadership in print.  Here is a description of the book from the Team of Rivals website:

Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a character that had been forged by life experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals. He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet. He overcomes these obstacles by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln's mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history.

According to the website, Steven Spielberg is making a movie based on this book, focusing on the last four months of Lincoln’s life and presidency. 

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  Lincoln demonstrates how to reconcile and work with those who are not merely different from him in personality and ambition, but are indeed rivals—each having believed at one point they deserved the presidency more than he.  The way he earned their respect and loyalty is something to behold.

Remembering Gettysburg in the Greatest American Speech

Today marks the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered November 19, 1863.  Four months prior, Union and Confederate soldiers met in that small town to fight the bloodiest battle of the war.  The casualties on both sides were catastrophic, especially for the Confederates whose resources were small compared to the North, whose population more than doubled that of the South and whose industrial prowess would overwhelm the Confederate armies.

In the clip below you will hear the Gettysburg Address read by actor Jeff Daniels.  Daniels played Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in both Gettysburg (1994) and Gods and Generals (2002). 


I would like to take this greatest of American speeches and parse it out a bit.


Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

• It should be noted that Lincoln and most around him understood that the beginning of our country was in 1776 (fourscore and seven years equals 87 years; therefore 1863-87=1776) with the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence, not 1787 with the ratifying of the Constitution.  The “proposition that all men are created equal” was penned by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)—a man of enigma who, even though he held to this proposition, owned over 200 slaves.  It would take a great Civil War, Reconstruction, and a century more before this proposition would turn into more of a reality.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

• Keep in mind this was 1863—and the outcome of the Civil War was far from certain.  Lincoln’s popularity was low, the commanding generals were (to be kind) slow (George McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, George Meade who lead them at Gettysburg), and lost significant battles during the first two years to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.  Lee took a significant gamble.  He knew Lincoln’s popularity was low, and if he could come into Pennsylvania and strike a victory, Lincoln would likely be out by the next election.  He banked that the North would grow tired of the war and would let the Confederacy have their independence.  Lee’s (over)confidence and questionable tactics (as brilliant as Lee was) along with the overwhelming resources of the North made Gettysburg a costly defeat for both, but especially for Lee who lost seven full divisions, six generals and 1/3 of his entire army.  Lincoln understood that this battle was the turning point of the war.  His “few appropriate remarks” made this clear.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

• Lincoln felt his words would be forgotten.  But it was not his words but the keynote speaker’s: the great orator Edward Everett.  He spoke for two hours (keep in mind that the American ear could and expected to endure speaking of this length.  The “new birth of freedom” is an interesting phrase.  The United States would be just that—united.  Although the policies of Reconstruction (1867-1877) left much to be desired in what many considered a second Civil War that many are still fighting even in 2010, James Robertson notes that prior to the Civil War, people would say, “The United States are… .”  After the Civil War, citizens would say, “The United States is… .”  This shift in mindset is significant, and speaks volumes that reverberate even to today.

Everywhere He Went, He Carried a Book With Him

“Everywhere he went, Lincoln carried a book with him.  He thumbed through page after page while his horse rested at the end of a long row of planting.  Whenever he could escape work, he would like with his head against a tree and read.  Though he acquired only a handful of volumes, they were seminal works of the English language.  Reading the Bible and Shakespeare over and over implanted rhythms and poetry that would come to fruition in those works of his maturity that made Abraham Lincoln our only poet-president.  With remarkable energy and tenacity he quarried the thoughts and ideas that he wanted to remember.  ‘When he came across a passage that Struck him, ‘ his stepmother recalled, ‘he would write it down on boards if he had no paper,’ and ‘when the board would get too black he would shave it off with a drawing knife and go on again.’  Then once he obtained paper, he would rewrite it and keep it in a scrapbook so that it could be memorized.  Word thus became precious to him, never, as with Seward, to be lightly or indiscriminately used.”

(Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006, p 52.)

Four American Presidents—But What Did They Have to Do With the Civil War?

Everyone recognizes that the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln are intrinsically bound together, but Lincoln alone did not contribute to the Civil War.  In fact, each of the first fifteen presidents played a part and planted seeds for the great struggle that came between 1861-1865—much of which still lingers in the USA even today.

"Four American Presidents (But What Did They Have to Do With the Civil War?)," the annual symposium of the Museum of the Confederacy, was co-sponsored and hosted by the Library of Virginia on Saturday, February 20, 2010. 

George Washington

Anne Sarah Rubin talked about President George Washington and how his career, thoughts, and actions relate to the origins of the Confederacy and the coming of the Civil War. The unresolved disagreements about the status of slavery and the nature of the federal union created situations that presaged the dissolution of the union in 1861 since its founding. Professor Rubin focused on the way that the image of President Washington was used to justify and legitimize actions. She responded to questions from members of the audience.
Anne Sarah Rubin is the author of A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868 and "Seventy-Six and Sixty-One: Confederates Remember the American Revolution."

Thomas Jefferson

Peter Onuf talked about President Thomas Jefferson and how his career, thoughts, and actions relate to the origins of the Confederacy and the coming of the Civil War. The unresolved disagreements about the status of slavery and the nature of the federal union created situations that presaged the dissolution of the union in 1861 since its founding. Professor Onuf talked about President Jefferson's soci-political philosophy of nationhood and contrasted it with the Southern philosophy. He responded to questions from members of the audience. Peter Onuf is the author of Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood (University Press of Virginia, 2001) and editor of Jeffersonian Legacies (University Press of Virginia, 1993).

Andrew Jackson: 

William Freehling talked about President Andrew Jackson and how his career, thoughts, and actions relate to the origins of the Confederacy and the coming of the Civil War. The unresolved disagreements about the status of slavery and the nature of the federal union created situations that presaged the dissolution of the union in 1861 since its founding.

William Freehling, a senior fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, is the author of Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836 and The Road to Disunion in two volumes (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2).

John Tyler

Edward Crapol talked about President John Tyler and how his career, thoughts, and actions relate to the origins of the Confederacy and the coming of the Civil War. The unresolved disagreements about the status of slavery and the nature of the federal union created situations that presaged the dissolution of the union in 1861 since its founding.

Edward Crapol is the author of John Tyler, the Accidental President, published by The University of North Carolina Press.

Eyewitness to Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination (Garry Moore Show)

In the 1950's, Garry Moore hosted a show called "I've Got a Secret."  One of the guests was a 96-year-old man named Samuel J. Seymour from Maryland who was brought on as one who was an eyewitness to John Wilkes Booth's assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  He was only five years old at the time.