I still hear it said, on occasion, and I know it is still
taught, that the Civil War was about states right to secede. Since I’m reading David Reynolds’ the
history of John Brown, Abolitionist : The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the
Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights there can be no doubt about the main issue
of the war.
I came across the words of the song John Brown that Julia Ward Howe heard in 1861 in Washington D.C. from marching soldiers. She wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic to go with the words of the John Brown marching song, which she published in the Atlantic Monthly.
John Brown was John the Baptist for the Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondsman shall the Liberator be;
And soon throughout the sunny South the slaves shall all be free.
For his truth is marching on.
Chorus
The conflict that he heralded, he looks from heaven to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag, red, white, and blue,
And heaven shall ring with anthems o'er the deeds they mean to do,
For his truth is marching on.
Chorus
Oh, soldiers of freedom, then strike while strike you may
The deathblow of oppression in a better time and way;
For the dawn of old John Brown was brightened into day,
And his truth is marching on.
Chorus:
John Brown died that the slaves might be free
John Brown died that the slaves might be free
John Brown died that the slaves might be free
But his soul goes marching on.