When was the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' written and composed?
In 1861, as unrest took over the USA and civil war looked inevitable, abolitionist writer and poet Julia Ward Howe felt compelled to write a new battle cry set to the famous abolitionist tune 'John Brown's Body', after hearing union soldiers singing the tune. Her resulting 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' was published in 1862 and it soon became popular among the Federal Army. Over the next 150 years it became associated with both the Suffrage Movement and the Civil Rights Movement.
Did you know that the last line Martin Luther King ever spoke in public came from this hymn? Luther King uttered the words 'Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord' on April 3 1968 in a speech in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis.
What are the lyrics to the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' ('Glory Glory Hallelujah')?
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.
(Chorus) Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: "As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal"; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat; Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me. As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
You can find lyrics to more famous hymns here
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