William Steffe (c.1830 – c.1890), born in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, United States, was a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

bookkeeper and insurance agent. He is credited with collecting and editing the musical tune for a camp-meeting song with the traditional "Glory Hallelujah" refrain, in about 1856.Annie J. Randall, "A Censorship of Forgetting: Origins and Origin Myths of 'Battle Hymn of the Republic'", in Music, Power, and Politics, edited by Annie J. Randall, Routledge, 2004, p. 12, 15, 16. It opened with "Say, brothers, will you meet us / on Canaan's happy shore?" The tune became widely known. Early in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, this tune was used to create the

Union army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

marching song "

John Brown's Body "John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") 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 t ...

", which begins with the lyrics "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on." In November 1861,

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe (; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the original 1870 pacifist Mother's Day Proclamation. She was also an advocate for abolitionism ...

, having heard this version, used the tune as the basis of her new verse, later known as "

The Battle Hymn of the Republic 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. Howe wrote her l ...

References

*C. A. Brown (revised by Willard A. Heaps), ''The Story of Our National Ballads'', 1960, pages 174–178 *William A. Ward (ed.), ''The American Bicentennial Songbook, Vol. 1 (1770–1870s)'', 1975, page 236

External links

Battle hymn of the Republic (Julia Ward Howe/William Steffe) (1861)William Steffe and The Battle Hymn of the Republic
* * * 1830 births 1890 deaths 19th-century American composers 19th-century American male musicians American male composers Bookkeepers Insurance agents Musicians from South Carolina {{US-composer-19thC-stub