The tune that the "
Battle Hymn of the Republic" is sung to. The
tune was originally called
Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us? but generally known as
Glory, Hallelujah, and dates back to
1856 or earlier. After
John Brown's raid at
Harper's Ferry and his attempt to start an
insurrection, this tune, a camp meeting
hymn attributed to
composer William Steffe took on new words:
John Brown's body lies a -mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a -mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a -mouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on.
These
lyrics have been attributed to the
glee club of the "Tigers," a
battalion of the
Massachusetts Infantry, stationed at
Fort Warren in
Boston Harbor, who had a little
runt of a
sergeant who shared the same name as the noted
abolitionist . The
song spread
thanks to Colonel Fletcher Webster's 12th
Masschusetts Regiment on their way
south, and various
Union soldiers created their own
patriotic and
ribald versions including:
Hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree.
and:
We'll feed Old Jeff Davis sour apples (3x)
Until he gets the diarhee.
Charles Cardwell McCabe, the singing
chaplain of the 122d
Ohio Regiment of
Volunteers is often credited with teaching
Union soldiers the
words written by
Julia Ward Howe.