"Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment" is one of the few Civil War-era songs inspired by the lyrical structure of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the tune of "John Brown's Body" that is still performed and recorded today. The "Marching Song" has been described as "a powerful early statement of black pride, militancy, and desire for full equality, revealing the aspirations of black soldiers for Reconstruction as well as anticipating the spirit of the civil rights movement of the 1960s."[1] The song's lyrics are attributed to the regiment's white officer, Captain Lindley Miller. An almost identical song, "The Valiant Soldiers," is attributed to Sojourner Truth in post-Civil War editions of her Narrative. Recent scholarship supports Miller as the original author, or at least compiler, of the song.[2]
Tennessee Ernie Ford's 1961 Rendition of the TuneSong of the First of Arkansas, 1864
History
Although Congress had passed the Confiscation Act and Militia Act in July 1862, permitting freed slaves to serve in the Union Army, President Abraham Lincoln was initially reluctant to enlist blacks as soldiers. Lincoln announced in September 1862 that effective January 1, 1863, all slaves in Confederate territory would be free.[3][4] Beginning in 1863, recruitment of black soldiers proceeded with Lincoln's approval.
Lindley Miller was the son of Jacob W. Miller, who served as a U.S. Senator of the Whig Party from New Jersey between 1841 and 1853. His mother was the former Mary Louisa Macculloch, daughter of wealthy Morristown, New Jersey engineer and businessman George P. Macculloch, who designed and built the Morris Canal.
Lindley Miller was admitted to the bar in 1855, and established a successful law practice in New York City. Even as a young man, he was a noted orator and poet. After President Lincoln's proclamation of war in April 1861, he enlisted as a private in the 7th Regiment, New York State Militia, known as the "Silk Stocking Regiment" for its elite membership. He married Anne Huntington Tracy of Manhattan in May 1862. In August 1863, Anne Miller died after childbirth, at age 24, and their infant child died a week later. Heartbroken, Lindley Miller sought to become an officer with a colored regiment. He received a commission as captain in the First Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment (African Descent) in November 1863.[7]
Captain Miller first mentions the "Marching Song" in a letter from Vicksburg to his mother in Morristown, dated January 20, 1864. "I wrote a song for them to the tune of 'John Brown' the other day, which the whole Regiment sings. I sent a copy of it to Anthony" (Lindley's brother-in-law, Anthony Quinton Keasbey, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey from 1861 to 1868, married to Lindley's older sister, Edwina). Keasbey sent the song to the National Anti-Slavery Standard, where it appeared in the February 27, 1864 issue.[8] Recognized for his excellent service, Miller was promoted to Major and assigned to a Missouri regiment, but never took up his new commission. On sick leave at his home, Miller died on June 30, 1864, at age 30, from a fever he had acquired during his service with the First Arkansas.[9]
The "Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment" is known today through the song sheet issued by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments in Philadelphia. The "Song of the First of Arkansas," written in dialect, was one of several broadsides issued by the Committee for recruitment purposes. The broadside had this brief introduction: "The following song was written by Captain Lindley Miller, of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment. Captain Miller says the 'boys' sing the song on dress parade with an effect which can hardly be described, and he adds that 'while it is not very conservative, it will do to fight with.' Captain Miller is a son of the late ex-Senator Miller, of New Jersey."[10] The song was also included in a collection of Union Army songs published in New York in 1864.[11]
Irwin Silber, editor of Sing Out! from 1951 to 1967, introduced the song to a mid-20th-century audience in his Songs of the Civil War, published in 1960 in conjunction with the Civil War Centennial observance from 1961 to 1965. Silber thought it likely that the song represented a collaboration between Miller and his troops. Silber edited the song to standard English and titled it "Marching Song of the First Arkansas (Negro) Regiment."[12]
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" melody beginning
Lyrics
1. Oh, we're de bully soldiers of de "First of Arkansas," We are fightin' for de Union, we are fightin' for de law, We can hit a Rebel furder dan a white man eber saw, As we go marching on.
Chorus: Glory, glory hallelujah. Glory, glory hallelujah. Glory, glory hallelujah. As we go marching on.
2. See dar above the centre, where de flag is wavin' bright, We are goin' out of slavery; we are bound for freedom's light; We mean to show Jeff Davis how the Africans can fight, As we go marching on! (Chorus)
3. We hab done with hoein' cotton, we hab done with hoein' corn, We are colored Yankee soldiers, now, as sure as you are born; When de massas hear us yellin', dey'll tink it's Gabriel's horn, As we go marching on. (Chorus)
4. Dey will hab to pay us wages, de wages ob their sin, Dey will hab to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin, Dey will hab to gib us house-room, or de roof shall tumble in! As we go marching on. (Chorus)
5. We heard de Proclamation, massa hush it as he will, De bird he sing it to us, hoppin on de cotton hill, And de possum up de gum tree, he couldn't keep it still, As he went climbing on. (Chorus)
6. Dey said, "Now colored bredren, you shall be forever free, From the first of January, Eighteen hundred sixty-three." We heard it in de riber goin' rushin' to the sea, As it went sounding on. (Chorus)
7. Father Abraham has spoken and de message has been sent, De prison doors he opened, and out de pris'ners went, To join de sable army of de "African descent," As we go marching on. (Chorus)
8. Den fall in, colored bredren, you'd better do it soon, Don't you hear the drum a-beating de Yankee Doodle tune? We are wid you now dis morning, we'll be far away at noon, As we go marching on. (Chorus)
Interpretation
The black soldiers, in exuberant spirits, brag in the first three stanzas that they will show the rebels they are formidable fighters. They fight for the law, which offers equal treatment, as well as the Union. As soldiers, the third stanza says, they strike out for a new life, leaving behind "hoeing cotton" and "hoeing corn."
The most powerful challenge to the mores of the antebellum South is presented in the fourth stanza, where the black soldiers demand social equality, and more: "They will have to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin." White Southerners will have to acknowledge their actual blood relations among the former slaves. A heavy debt is owed: "They will have to pay us wages, the wages of their sin" (as Romans6:23 notes, the "wages of sin is death"). The black soldiers demand reparations, or threaten retaliation: "They will have to give us house-room, or the roof shall tumble in!"
In stanzas five and six, slavery has been abolished forever by the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln is described as "Father Abraham," a title that associates the President with the Old Testament patriarch, emphasizing the religious sanction to the abolition of slavery. The song is a powerful summary of the hopes and dreams of the black soldiers. Years later, a Civil War veteran told Norman B. Wood "he once heard a black regiment sing it just before a battle and they made the welkin [heavens] ring, and inspired all who heard it."[13]
Recordings
Soon after Silber's book appeared, two recordings were issued based on his version, one by Pete Seeger and Bill MacAdoo on the album Songs of the Civil War, released by Folkways Records in 1960. Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded the second on the album Tennessee Ernie Ford Sings Civil War Songs of the North, released by Capitol Records in 1961. The Seeger-MacAdoo folk song version includes three verses, and Ford's gospel quartet version includes four. Both recordings skipped the controversial fourth stanza. Seeger and MacAdoo's version is now a Smithsonian Folkways recording, and Ford's version is available as Bear Family Records BCD 16635 AS. Keith and Rusty McNeil also recorded a three-stanza version of the "Marching Song" in their three-CD set of Civil War Songs. The song is in their self-published Civil War Songbook.[14]Sparky and Rhonda Rucker included four verses from the "Marching Song" in a medley titled "Glory Hallelujah Suite" on The Blue and the Grey in Black and White, released by Flying Fish Records in 1993. The bluegrass album Songs of the Civil War Era, self-published in November 2005 by ShoreGrass, contains a recording of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in which the first and second stanzas of the Marching Song are included.
Sweet Honey in the Rock recorded Truth's song in 1993 on their 20th anniversary album, Still on the Journey. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Sweet Honey's founder, renamed the song "Sojourner's Battle Hymn."[15] Truth's biographers Erlene Stetson and Linda David describe the song as "rousing, brashly defiant, irreverent and joyous," and characterized Sweet Honey's version as "stirringly performed."[16] In 2006 the Sojourner Truth Institute and Heritage Battle Creek produced a CD, Am I Not a Man and a Brother? Songs of Freedom North and South, with talented local singers and musicians from Battle Creek, Michigan, including a rendition of "The Valiant Soldiers" by Carolyn Ballard.
In the opera Appomattox by Philip Glass, the chorus sings a variation of the tune in Act One.
Sojourner Truth's version
Sojourner Truth's version of the song, "The Valiant Soldiers," which appears in the 1878, 1881, and 1884 editions of her Narrative, is almost identical to Silber's edition of the "Marching Song," containing stanzas one through five plus stanza seven. Only the first line of the first stanza is different: "We are the valiant soldiers who've 'listed for the war." Stanzas six and eight are found only in the "Marching Song."
In the post-Civil War editions of Truth's Narrative, "The Valiant Soldiers" is introduced by this sentence by Francis Titus: "The following song, written for the first Michigan Regiment of colored soldiers, was composed by Sojourner Truth during the war, and was sung by her in Detroit and Washington."[17]
As she was unable to read or write, Truth dictated her original autobiography to her friend Olive Gilbert. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth was published in Boston in 1850 by William Lloyd Garrison's printer on credit, and was sold by Truth at her public lectures. She had become a powerful and popular speaker on such reform topics as abolitionism, women's suffrage and temperance, often including songs in her presentations.
In 1860 Truth moved from Northampton, Massachusetts to Battle Creek, Michigan. Truth continued to travel and lecture during the Civil War, her fame as a speaker promoted by Harriet Beecher Stowe's article in the April 1863 Atlantic Monthly, romanticizing Truth as the "Libyan Sibyl." To support herself, Truth sold her carte de visite at lectures in addition to sheets of her favorite songs and copies of her Narrative.
Sometime around Thanksgiving 1863, Truth collected food in Battle Creek and delivered it to the First Michigan Colored Infantry, which was being organized that fall at Camp Ward in Detroit. Truth biographers Carleton Mabee[18] and Nell Irvin Painter[19] report she sang "The Valiant Soldiers" either on this occasion or during another visit to the soldiers in February 1864, although they have not cited any contemporary sources that verify this. Neither the story about Truth's visit in the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune of November 24, 1863 nor Truth's letters of that period make any mention of her singing "The Valiant Soldiers."[20]
Truth is first linked to the song in 1878, fourteen years after Miller's version was published in the National Anti-Slavery Standard. Truth's Michigan friend Frances Titus edited an expanded edition of Truth's Narrative by adding a section of letters and articles Truth had collected in the scrapbooks she called her "Book of Life." The first edition, published in Boston in 1875, did not contain "The Valiant Soldiers." Later editions printed in Battle Creek in 1878, 1881, and 1884 have the song inserted on a blank page between the original "Narrative" and the "Book of Life" sections.[21] Titus's note that the song was composed for the First Michigan Regiment appears to be one more of the minor inaccuracies she introduced into her editions of the Narrative.[22] There is no question that Truth sang the song; Painter cites a newspaper account of Truth singing a variation of "The Valiant Soldiers" in 1879 to the black settlers in Kansas known as Exodusters.[23] But there is no evidence Truth composed the lyrics before Lindley Miller's "Marching Song" was published and widely distributed.
↑ Songs of the Soldiers, arranged and edited by Frank Moore (New York: George P. Putnam, 1864), pp. 206–208; Moore's introductory Note is dated April 1864.
Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist of New York Dutch heritage and a women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, organized in the northern states during the Civil War.Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers.
United States Colored Troops (USCT) were Union Army regiments during the American Civil War that primarily comprised African American soldiers, although troops drawn from other ethnic minorities also served in USCT units. Recruited in response to a demand for recruits from Union Army commanders, by the end of the war in 1865 USCT regiments, which numbered 175 in total, constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the army. Approximately 20% of USCT soldiers were killed in action or died of disease and other causes, a rate about 35% higher than that of white Union troops. Numerous USCT soldiers fought with distinction, with 16 receiving the Medal of Honor. The USCT regiments were precursors to the Buffalo Soldier units which fought in the American Indian Wars.
"John Brown's Body" is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. According to an 1889 account, the original John Brown lyrics were a collective effort by a group of Union soldiers who were referring both to the famous John Brown and also, humorously, to a Sergeant John Brown of their own battalion. Various other authors have published additional verses or claimed credit for originating the John Brown lyrics and tune.
The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe.
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. A patriotic song advocating the causes of Unionism and abolitionism, it became so popular that composer H. L. Schreiner and lyricist W. H. Barnes adapted it for the Confederacy.
The 5th United States Colored Cavalry was a regiment of the United States Army organized as one of the units of the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War. The 5th USCC was one of the more notable black fighting units. It was officially organized in Kentucky in October 1864, after its first two battles. It was commanded by Colonel James Brisbin until February 1865, when he took over the 6th US Colored Cavalry. His executive officer, Louis Henry Carpenter, commanded the regiment until 20 March 1866.
The African American Civil War Memorial Museum, in the U Street district of Washington, D.C., recognizes the contributions of the 209,145 members of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The eponymous memorial, dedicated in July 1998 by the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation, commemorates the service of 209,145 African-American soldiers and about 7,000 white and 2,145 Hispanic soldiers, together with the approximate 20,000 unsegregated Navy sailors, who fought for the Union in the American Civil War, mostly among the 175 regiments of United States Colored Troops.
"Le Chant du départ" is a revolutionary and war song written by Étienne Méhul (music) and Marie-Joseph Chénier (words) in 1794. It was the official anthem of the French Empire, and it is currently the unofficial regional anthem of French Guiana and the presidential anthem of France.
The 102nd United States Colored Infantry was an African American infantry regiment of United States Colored Troops in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was organized as the 1st Michigan Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment before being redesignated as the 102nd Regiment USCT.
The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment to be organized in a northern state and the first black unit to see combat during the Civil War. At the Battle of Poison Spring, the regiment lost nearly half its number, and suffered the highest losses of any Kansas regiment during the war.
During the American Civil War, music played a prominent role on both sides of the conflict, Union and Confederate. On the battlefield, different instruments including bugles, drums, and fifes were played to issue marching orders or sometimes simply to boost the morale of one's fellow soldiers. Singing was also employed not only as a recreational activity but as a release from the inevitable tensions that come with fighting in a war. In camp, music was a diversion away from the bloodshed, helping the soldiers deal with homesickness and boredom. Soldiers of both sides often engaged in recreation with musical instruments, and when the opposing armies were near each other, sometimes the bands from both sides of the conflict played against each other on the night before a battle.
The 46th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was originally designated as the 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.
The 54th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.
The 57th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.
The 112th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.
The 3rd Regiment Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry (1864–1865) was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although Arkansas joined the Confederate States of America in 1861, not all of its citizens supported secession. Arkansas formed 11 regiments that served in the Union Army.
The 11th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.
The 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was the sister regiment of the renowned Massachusetts 54th Volunteers during the latter half of the American Civil War. The enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 had opened the way for the enlistment of free men of color and newly liberated slaves to fight for their freedom within the Union Army. As the ranks of the 54th Massachusetts quickly reached its full complement of recruits, an overflow of colored volunteers continued to pour in from several other states outside Massachusetts — many of whom simply had not arrived in time — prompting Governor John Albion Andrew to authorize yet another regiment of colored soldiers sponsored by the Commonwealth. Lieutenant Colonel Norwood P. Hallowell of the 54th Massachusetts was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the 55th Massachusetts on May 30, 1863. Five companies of the 55th Massachusetts were mustered into service on May 31; two more companies were mustered in on June 15; and the last three on June 22.
The 45th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
References
Cornish, Dudley Taylor, The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1895. 1956; New York: W. W. Norton, 1966.
Mabee, Carleton, with Susan Mabee Newhouse. Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend. New York: New York Univ. Press, 1993. ISBN0-8147-5525-9
McPherson, James M. The Negro's Civil War. New York: Pantheon Books, 1965.
Moore, Frank, arranger and ed. Songs of the Soldiers. New York: George P. Putnam, 1864.
Narrative of Sojourner Truth. Introduction by Jeffrey C. Stewart. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1991. ISBN0-19-509051-9
Painter, Nell Irvin. Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
Painter, Nell Irvin. Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. ISBN0393317080
Reagon, Bernice Johnson. If You Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2001. ISBN0-8032-8983-9
Silber, Irwin, comp. and ed. Songs of the Civil War. 1960; New York, Dover Publications, 1995. ISBN0-486-28438-7
Stetson, Erlene, and Linda David, Glorying in Tribulation: The Lifework of Sojourner Truth. East Lansing: Michigan State Univ. Press, 1994. ISBN0-87013-337-3
Walls, David. "Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment: A Contested Attribution." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 4 (Winter 2007), 401–421.
Wood, Norman B. The White Side of a Black Subject: A Vindication of the Afro-American Race. Chicago: American Publishing House, 1897.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
