John Brown’s Original Marching Song.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Johnson, Song Publisher, Stationer & Printer, c. early 1860s. Single-sided sheet measuring 5 x 8 inches. Foxed with some wrinkling to lower margin; excellent. Item #List3802
A scarce early songsheet printing of “John Brown’s Body,” one of the defining songs of the Union Army and the most famous musical expression of John Brown’s transformation into an antislavery martyr. The song apparently emerged among soldiers in Massachusetts soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, with various claims to authorship but with the strongest tradition assigning its development to members of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts Militia. Its melody derived from the camp-meeting hymn usually known by the refrain “Brothers, will you meet us,” and the same tune was later used by Julia Ward Howe for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” This Philadelphia printing, issued by Johnson, Song Publisher, Stationer & Printer, reflects the rapid commercial spread of the song during the conflict. By pairing Brown’s body with the refrain “his soul is marching on,” the song helped fix Brown in popular Union culture as a martyr whose death continued to animate the antislavery cause.
OCLC locates four copies.
Price: $750.00