Show gh 9 luf 4 iJ Released by Western Newspaper Union His Ills Songs Helped Win WID a War EIGHTY years ago the United States was about to plunge into I tI e a greatest civil war m in h story Not only was it a nation divided against itself but even in the North there then was a division of opinion as to how to deal with the seceding Southern sta states tes Then a Massachusetts etts born music I teacher and composer who had set sat sath seth h up in m the song slung bus ness in Ch cago wrote the words and music of a st song FIrst sung at a great patriot c rally in Un on square In Ne v York cIty by the then famous brothers and six SIS SISters sisters of ot the Hutchinson Family of New Hampshire th s song soon swept the country It was The Battle Cry of ot Freedom or as it is sometimes known from one of the phrases m in the chorus Rally Round the Flag The man who wrote it was George Frederick Root Northern boys responding to President Lincoln s call tor for volun volunteers volunteers volunteers sang it as they marched to camp and its words poured from their thelI parched throats and powder blackened i 1 ps as they went into bat bat- battle bat battle tle tie As the war settled down to Its dreary bloody course and the first flush of pa patriot c fervor wore off there was another song by Root wh vh ch became immensely popular WIth the soldiers both North and South It was the mournful Just r- r r- r rY rt t Y i r a ra nr 6 r 11 GEORGE GEOEGE F BOOT ROOT From a photograph by Carbutt 1868 1868 Before the Battle Mother sung m many a camp on the eve of at many manya a battle during the tour four years of the war Equally mournful and equally pop popular among the folks back horne home as the casualty lists mounted was another of ot Root Roots s songs songs- songs The Va Vacant Vacant Vacant cant Chair By 1864 which found the North grimly determined to fight through to victory despite the terrIble loss of ot life resulting from Grant s campaign In the Wilderness and around Richmond they were singing another of Root s stirring songs that was almost as popular as his ills Battle Cry of Freedom It was Tramp Tramp Tramp the Boys Are Marching Altogether Root composed 56 war songs during these four years and andas andas andas as a recent writer says If the War Bet veen the States had bad its mu munitions nations barons it also had its music barons Song writing was a big busy busl busyness business ness and the three outstanding ty tycoons tycoons tycoons coons of the melodic Industry were George F Root Charles Carroll Sawyer and Henry Clay Work The latter s Marching Through GeorgIa sold copies m two years and recalling that Root also had among his hits the Battle Cry of ot Free Freedom Freedom Freedom dom the Vacant Chair ChalI and Tramp Tramp Tramp his lus income was doubtless of large proportions Root was born bom in Sheffield Mass August 30 1820 and from 1840 to 1859 had a successful career as a choir director music teacher and composer in m Boston and New Nev York City His first song Hazel Dell appeared m in 1853 1853 and was very popular popular popular lar as were his Rosalie the Pra rae ne Flower and There s Music ill in inthe inthe the Air In 1859 he moved to Chi Chicago Chicago cago where he established the pub publish bsh ng house of ot Root and Cady Then came the great conflict of 1861 65 and he began writing the war songs which not only did a great deal to inspire the North and help make it victorious but also made hun him rich Evidence of ot that Is shown by the fact tact that when the Chicago fire of 1871 wiped out the firm farm its losses were more than a quarter ot of ota ofa ofa a million dollars After that Root sold out to John Church and Corn Com Company pany of Cincinnati but continued to write songs of all cantatas kinds relIgIOus music etc until until his death on August 6 1895 Concerning The Battle Cry of Freedom a wrIter says Dashed off oa when the iron was at white heat and sent forth in ina ina ina a ens s of ot the nation it carried with It the power of ot a battalion of ot strong arms It aroused the drooped spir spirIts spirits Its of the people It was the rally rallying rallying mg ing cry of all aU patriotic gatherings It was sung everywhere from Maine to Oregon Its power was as irresistible Ne ble Its influence was immense He touched with his finger the para pars paralyzed public spirit and it sprang into res cs act vity I |