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American War Ballads and Lyrics
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Historical SummaryThe Civil War was a people’s war; and the camp, the march, the public meetings at home, and even the hospital were enlivened by patriotic songs. The northern songs given below include some often sung, chiefly of little poetic value, and one of less popularity but more literary merit.—For southern songs, see No. 91 below.—Bibliography as in No. 84 above.
War Songs (1861–1864)
BY NORTHERN POETS
B. "THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE"
BY JAMES SLOAN GIBBONS
WE are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more, From Mississippi’s winding stream and from New England’s shore; We leave our ploughs and workshops, our wives and children dear, With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear; We dare not look behind us, but steadfastly before: We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more!
If you look across the hilltops that meet the northern sky, Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry; And now the wind, an instant, tears the cloudy veil aside, And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride, And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour: We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more!
If you took all up our valleys where the growing harvests shine, You may see our sturdy farmer boys fast forming into line And children from their mother’s knees are pulling at the weeds, And learning how to reap and sow against their country’s needs; And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door: We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more!
You have called us, and we’re coming, by Richmond’s bloody tide To lay us down, for Freedom’s sake, our brothers’ bones beside, Or from foul treason’s savage grasp to wrench the murderous blade, And in the face of foreign foes its fragments to parade. Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before: We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more!
From reprints in (edited by Frank Moore, New York, 1864), 78; (edited by George Cary Eggleston, New York, etc., [1889], II, 160, 271, 275.
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Chicago: James Sloan Gibbons, "War Songs (1861– 1864)," American War Ballads and Lyrics, ed. George Cary Eggleston in American History Told by Contemporaries, ed. Albert Bushnell Hart (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1903), Original Sources, accessed September 13, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ZSJ8BEU61BDSF59.
MLA: Gibbons, James Sloan. "War Songs (1861– 1864)." American War Ballads and Lyrics, edited by George Cary Eggleston, Vol. II, in American History Told by Contemporaries, edited by Albert Bushnell Hart, Vol. 4, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1903, Original Sources. 13 Sep. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ZSJ8BEU61BDSF59.
Harvard: Gibbons, JS, 'War Songs (1861– 1864)' in American War Ballads and Lyrics, ed. . cited in 1903, American History Told by Contemporaries, ed. , The Macmillan Company, New York. Original Sources, retrieved 13 September 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ZSJ8BEU61BDSF59.
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