Civil War troops sang about flags
By James Breig
From its opening days in 1861 through the Battle of Gettysburg to Appomattox, the Civil War spawned songs about flags that were intoned on both sides of the fray. Northerners sang “The Battle Cry of Freedom” with its rousing chorus of “Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys,” while Southerners gave out with “The Bonnie Blue Flag.”
“Battle Cry” became so popular that the lyrics were redone so that the sheet music would sell in the Confederacy as well: “Our Dixie forever! She’s never at a loss!/Down with the eagle and up with the cross./We’ll rally ‘round the bonny flag, we’ll rally once again,/Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!”
Since turn-about is fair play, “The Bonnie Blue Flag” had its southern lyrics swapped out so that Union soldiers could exult: “Hurrah, Hurrah, for equal rights hurrah,/Hurrah for the good old flag that bears the stripes and stars.”
Another flag-related tune during the War Between the States was “Our Country and Flag,” composed by Richard Culver.
The sheet music was published in January 1862, less than a year after the firing on Fort Sumter, which started the conflict that would last until April 1865.
The elaborate cover of the sheet music includes a scene of Sumter aflame, marching federal troops, warships, the U.S. Capitol, the Bunker Hill monument – and plenty of flags, including Old Glory, state flags and troop banners.
The chorus – “Hurra! Hurra!/Our country forever/Hurra! Hurra!/Our country and flag” – was separated by stanzas like this: “Our Union must stand throughout all future ages,/enshrined in our hearts and in history’s pages./As bought with the blood of our fathers, we cherish/ and swear to preserve and maintain it, or perish.”
Culver, a professor of music, did not limit his 1862 output to just one song about the flag. He also composed the music to “Unfurl the Stars and Stripes,” with words by a minister: “Unfurl the Stars and Stripes,/the banner of the Free!/With glad salutes and grateful hearts,/With shouts of victory.”
(To see the sheet music for “Our Country and Flag,” search for “Richard Culver” at www.loc.gov.)