Jessica Christenson

Chad Ostler
28 October 2016
Document Analysis Three
Battle Hymn of the Republic was published by Julia Ward Howe in The Atlantic Monthly
in February, 1862. Digital History published a later revision of this well- known Civil War song.
Some of these revisions include: "As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free" was
later changed to "As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free." Die, was
changed to live, creating a different purpose and meaning of this text. It also states that the
word "succor" was changed to "honor," and the "soul of Time" has been changed to "soul of
wrong." Interesting enough, half of the corrections were the complete opposite of the word that
was first used. Within Battle Hymn of the Republic, God is referenced a lot through- out it. For
example: "His truth is marching on... His day is marching on... our God is marching on... He has
waked the earth's dull sorrow with a high ecstatic beat.... He is wisdom to the mighty..." We see
through- out this song (that we later developed as an American patriotic anthem,) that the words
"marching" are used frequently throughout it. These words are relating back to war, and that
God's protection is upon them as they march forward for liberty and happiness.
This poem was later developed into what they called: "Mine eyes have seen the Glory,"
using the music from the song "John Brown's Body." In an autobiography written by Howe, she
reports that she wrote the verses to meet a challenge by a friend, Reverend James Freeman
Clarke. Clarke had thought that there should be more uplifting words to the tune "John Brown's
Body," and then challenged Howe to create a poem that would soon be known as one of the bestknown Civil War songs of the Union Army.

John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry was an important incident to the North. With 21
men accompanying him, John Brown initiated an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a
U.S arsenal. Seeming that this failed, Brown became a martyr for the North, by dying for slavery.
This raid took place in the year 1859, three years before Julia Ward Howe had written the Battle
Hymn of the Republic to take place of "John Brown's Body."
In the 1800's the Second Great Awakening took place. This reflected Romanticism
characterized by enthusiasm and emotion within the Protestant religion. Battle Hymn of the
Republic shows that God and Religion were right next to Government. People relied solely on
God to get them through the hard times, and for strength during the good times. One of the
biggest concepts brought about by the Second Great Awakening was abolishing slavery and
getting rid of polygamy as well. They believed that slavery and sexual adultery was a sin and
they needed to be cleansed.
The 1800's consisted of a division between the North and South. The North developed the
Republican party and were against slavery, where- as the South were Democratic and were for
slavery. This created contention between the North and the South, so much so that it led to a long
and bloody war called the "Civil War." The audience for this poem was aimed towards the Union
soldiers. Though it was made purposely for them, the entire nation adopted a love for this poem.
Julia Ward Howe did not have much bias in her article, but assumed that the reader was not
skeptical, and believed in God. The author is trying to accomplish uniting the nation especially
within the army. Since our Union was almost split in half concerning arguments on slavery, every
effort to try and save our Union was intended.
I think that the Battle Hymn of the Republic is a beautiful patriotic anthem. It shows how
we tied religion into government, and relied on God. This poem/song has become an important

song in our every-day lives. Although we do not preach in politics anymore, since the separation
between church and state is so distinct, we don't have anything like what Julia Ward Howe wrote.
I wish that we still had God apart of our government, since the world just seems to get crueler
and crueler. God is out of the picture within the United States now a-days, and that is nothing we
will probably go back to in the near future with how things are looking.