PEOPLE IN AMERICA - December 1, 2002: Julia Ward Howe
By Shelley Gollust
VOICE ONE:
I'm Ray Freeman.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Shirley Griffith with the Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Every week we tell about a
person important in the history of the United States.
Today, we tell about Julia Ward Howe. She wrote one of the great songs of the American Civil War, the "Battle
Hymn of the Republic."
((MUSIC: FIFE AND DRUMS))
VOICE ONE:
Marching soldiers. No end to the lines of soldiers marching across the land. They came
from the Northern states fighting to keep the Union together. And they came from the
Southern states fighting for a separate Confederate government that would protect their
right to have slaves. In summer and winter, the fighting continued. The sun burned like
fire. The soldiers marched on. The cold winter winds blew snow in their faces. The
soldiers marched on.
(Photo - Library of
Congress)
The United States was a nation cut in two by a bitter struggle over slavery and a state's
right to leave the Union. America's Civil War lasted four years. It destroyed the land. And it destroyed the young
men of the nation.
VOICE TWO:
Many stories have been told about the soldiers of the Civil War. They have told of the soldiers fear and terror,
their great and heroic acts, how they suffered and died, and how they sang before and after battle. One song,
more than any other, caught the spirit of the Union soldiers of the North. The song is the "Battle Hymn of the
Republic." Here is the first part of the song, sung by Odetta:
((MUSIC))
VOICE ONE:
The words are religious. They are like a hymn, a song of praise to God. This is the story of the woman who wrote
the song.
((MUSIC))
VOICE TWO:
The place was Washington D.C. The year was Eighteen-Sixty-One. It was a wet winter night. There were
thousands of soldiers in the city. The hospitals were full. The field of battle was just across the Potomac River in
the southern state of Virginia.
A woman lay asleep in her hotel room. She had had a long, hard day. She had come to Washington to visit the
Union troops. The sight and sounds of the soldiers gave her no rest. Even in her sleep she seemed to hear them.
She heard their sad voices as they sat beside their fires. She heard them singing. They sang a marching song she
knew. It was a song about John Brown, an activist against slavery. The song told about how his body turned to
earth in the grave. It told about how his spirit lived on.
VOICE ONE:
The woman's name was Julia Ward Howe. She was a writer and social reformer. She was born in New York City
in Eighteen-Nineteen. Her father was a wealthy banker. Julia married Samuel Gridley Howe. He was a reformer
and teacher of the blind. Julia and Samuel Howe moved to Boston. Missus Howe raised five children. And she
published several books of poetry.
VOICE TWO:
Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Gridley Howe were leaders in the movement in America to end slavery. They
published an anti-slavery newspaper called the "Commonwealth."
Missus Howe had met John Brown. Like him, she was an anti-slavery activist. She opposed those Americans
who used black people as slaves. Unlike him, she did not approve of using violence to end slavery.
In Eighteen-Fifty-Nine, John Brown tried to start a revolt of slaves. He led an attack on Harper's Ferry, a town in
what was then the state of Virginia. [Editor's note: That area did not become the state of West Virginia until
1863.] The town had a factory that made guns for the army. It also had a storage center for military equipment.
The attack on Harper's Ferry failed. John Brown was put on trial for treason. He was found guilty and was
executed.
VOICE ONE:
In the northern states, John Brown became a hero. His story was told through song. The song was most popular
with soldiers. It became the unofficial marching song of the Union Army.
Julia Ward Howe also liked to sing the song. She felt that the music was beautiful, but the words about John
Brown were not. So she decided to write different words to the music.
Those words came to her that night as she lay in her hotel room in Washington. She was awakened by her dreams
of marching soldiers.
VOICE TWO:
"I found to my surprise that the words were forming themselves in my head. I lay still until the last line had
completed itself in my thoughts.
Then I quickly got out of bed. I thought I would forget the words if I did not write them immediately. I looked for
a piece of paper and a pen. Then I began to write the lines of a poem:
'Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of
wrath are stored, He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword, His truth is marching on.'
I wrote until I was finished. Then I lay down again and fell asleep. I felt something important had happened to
me."
VOICE ONE:
An American magazine, "The Atlantic Monthly," bought Missus Howe's poem. She was paid four dollars. The
magazine published the poem in Eighteen-Sixty-Two. The poem became very popular. It had just the right words
for the great marching music. The soldiers of the Union Army began to sing the words Julia Ward Howe had
written. It soon became their official marching song -- "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
VOICE TWO:
Julia Ward Howe became famous. She was invited to the White House to meet President Abraham Lincoln. After
dinner at the White House, the guests talked about the Civil War. They were sad. The Union army had suffered
many defeats. Then someone began to sing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Missus Howe and President
Lincoln joined in the singing. There were tears in the President's eyes. Here is the last part of the song, sung by
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:
((MUSIC))
VOICE ONE:
After the North won the Civil War in Eighteen-Sixty-Five, Julia Ward Howe became involved in other social
reform movements. She became a leader in the movement to gain equal rights for American women, including
the right to vote. She helped establish the New England Woman's Club in Eighteen-Sixty-Eight. This
organization worked for equal rights for women in education and business. She served as president of the group
for more than thirty years.
VOICE TWO:
Julia Ward Howe also became involved in the movement for peace. In Eighteen-Seventy, she issued an "Appeal
to Womanhood Throughout the World." This was a call for an international conference of women to support the
peaceful settlement of conflicts. The next year she helped organize the American group of the Woman's
International Peace Association. She became president of the group.
Julia Ward Howe continued to write books and make speeches about the issues she felt were important. Through
the years, thousands of people came to hear her recite her most famous poem. She died in Nineteen-Ten. She was
ninety-one years old.
VOICE ONE:
The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" still is one of America's great traditional songs. No one knows for sure who
wrote the music. But the song lives on. And so does the name of the woman who made the music famous with
her words: Julia Ward Howe.
(THEME)
VOICE TWO:
This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley
Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of
America.
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