Singing groups performed it to solace the wounded and dying battered troops closed ranks and renewed their assaults with it on their lips one Iowa regiment at Vicksburg returned from the field singing it despite having lost four hundred men. Schreiner, a well known Southern composer, adapted a set of lyrics which boldly asserted, “Our Dixie forever, she’s never at a loss,/ Down with the Eagle and up with the Cross,” the Confederacy would never successfully harness its power, and the song remained the distinct property of the North. Root was working as a printer for a Chicago publishing house when he first began to compose stirring battle songs and hymns, among them “The First Gun Is Fired” and “Forward, Boys, Forward.” Supported by the firm belief in his efforts and inspired by Lincoln, he composed “The Battle Cry” in propagandistic haste and was thrilled with its immediate and widespread effect, later remarking that he was “thankful that if I could not shoulder a musket in defense of my country I could serve her in this way.”Īlthough Herman L. Its robust patriotism and marchable melody made it an instant favorite at political rallies and theatrical performances as well as on the battlefield. Root’s “The Battle Cry of Freedom” swept through the Union like a firestorm. Written in response to Lincoln’s call for more troops in 1861, George F.

Battle cry of freedom southern version