Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. (Chorus) Chorus (1864 election campaign) Our noble women also have aided them at home! While our boys have responded and to the fields have gone! Their motto is resistance – "To the tyrants never yield!" They have laid down their lives on the bloody battle field. Our gallant boys have marched to the rolling of the drums.Īnd the leaders in charge cry out, "Come, boys, come!" While we rally 'round the Bonnie flag, we'll rally once again, Our Dixie forever! She's never at a loss!ĭown with the eagle and up with the cross Our flag is proudly floating on the land and on the main,īeneath it oft we've conquered, and we'll conquer oft again! So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,Īnd we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best, We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,Īnd although he may be poor, he shall never be a slave, Oh we're springing to the call for three hundred thousand more, Īnd we'll fill the vacant ranks with a million freemen more, While we rally round the flag, boys, we rally once again, Oh we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again, Īnd we'll rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,ĭown with the traitors, up with the stars The first line boldly endorsed a perpetual Union – "The Union forever" – followed by a strong dismissal of secession: "Down with the traitor, up with the star." However, the battle cry Root shouted was one of "freedom." Freedom had many meanings in the Civil War – for instance, freedom from Confederate political tyranny or the oft-perceived "slaveholders' conspiracy" – but, in the context of Root’s political beliefs and other activities, he clearly meant to suggest some degree of abolitionism. The chorus was the key, for it was there that Root described why Northerners rallied around the flag. Those looking for anti-slavery sentiments could find them, but these elements were not so pronounced as to offend those who were solely unionists. The song's definition of the Northern cause is purposely open-ended. The ability of "The Battle Cry of Freedom" to bridge divisions over emancipation is not surprising. Thus, both groups of Unionists, those opposed to slavery and secession, could utilize the song without reservation: McWhirter, the song's success and popularity among the Union was due to its even-handed references to both abolitionism and unionism. Henry Stone, The Century Illustrated, "Memoranda on the Civil War: A Song in Camp" (1887), emphasis added Īccording to historian Christian L.
Charles Ives quoted the song in several compositions, including his own patriotic song, "They Are There". Louis Moreau Gottschalk thought so highly of the song that in his diary he confided that he thought "it should be our national anthem" and used it as the basis for his 1863 concert paraphrase for solo piano "Le Cri de délivrance," opus 55, and dedicated it to Root, who was a personal friend. It is estimated that over 700,000 copies of this song were put in circulation.
The song was so popular that the music publisher had 14 printing presses going at one time and still could not keep up with demand. Ī modified Union version was used as the campaign song for the Lincoln- Johnson ticket in the 1864 presidential election, as well as in elections after the war, such as for Garfield in the 1880 U.S. A patriotic song advocating the causes of Unionism and abolitionism, it became so popular that composer H. The " Battle Cry of Freedom", also known as " Rally 'Round the Flag", is a song written in 1862 by American composer George Frederick Root (1820–1895) during the American Civil War.
Cover of the 1862 sheet music for "Battle Cry of Freedom"
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