The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-06-05
"JOhn Browns Body"

In the song John Browns Body ="
we have an example of a melody and
set of words which seem never to have
been written or composed by anybody.
1t is a genuine "folk song" growing
out of a widespread sentiment, as
many old folk songs have done, which
far more closely responded to the mu-
steal wants of the common people than
any carefully-prepared and cleverly-
composed song could. In the case of
this song, however, its recent origin
and almost instant growth into common
use gives us an opportunity to trace its
beginnings and development in way
which is impossible with older songs.
The tune of &C. John Browns Body "
had its origin before the words that
are now known or remembered in con-
nection with it. 1t was sung before
the war of the rebellion-as long ago,
at least, as 1S56-to words which do not
now remain in use, at certain New Eng
land camp-meetings and revival serv-
ices. Two members of the Boston
militia company called the Tigers"
happening to be at a camp-meeting in
small town in New Hampshire, heard
the song sung to religious words and
remembered the air. The name of one
of these men was Purington, and of
the other John Brown. Not long after
this the war broke out and the" Tigers "
were made part of the Twelfth Mas
sachusetts Regiment of Volunteers,
which rendezvoused at Fort Warren,
in Boston harbor. Here the two men
already named, Purington aud Brown,
formed, with two others named Edgerly
and Greenleaf, quartet, and the quar-
tet sang, among its other songs, all
sorts of words of their own "getting
up" to this tune. John Brown was a
good natured Scotchman, and the men,
bers OF the quartet say they sang
"John Brown this and John Brown
that " to the tune, until, by an almost
unconscious change, the hero of them
was changed from John Brown of the
"Tigers " to John Brown of Harper's
Ferry, and the grand and simple verse
came into existence:
"John Browns body lies a-mouldering in the ground
But his soul is marching on"
Before this time the masses of the
North had not been in exact sympathy
with the purposes of John Brown, but
the excitement of the early days of the
war called out sentiment which these
words exactly fitted. Whenever the
soldier quartet were in Boston they
were called upon to sing this song.
The Twelfth Regiment took it up.
Samuel G. Perkins of Brockton, a
member of Maitland's band, which was
stationd with the regiment at Fort
Warren, wrote down the air while
soldier whistled it. Then the band
played it every day. When Edward
Everett formally presented the set of
colors to the Twelfth Regiment on Bos-
ton Common, the speech of acceptance
being made by Colonel Fletcher Web
ster of the regiment, the tune was
played, and the multitude fairly went
wild over it. The band played the
tune going up State street in June
1861, and the soldiers sang it as they
marched along. The crowd along the
sidewalk took up the air and joined in
the chorus:
Glory, glory, haleujah,
His soul goes marching on, /"
Soon after the regiment sang it in
marching through New York, on the
way to Baltimore, with the same effect
1t spread at once throughout the coun-
try and became the anthem of the
Union. In December, 1861, Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe wrote for the air the words
beginning
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of
the Lord"
which was called THE Battle Hymn
of the Republic" which soon became
immensely popular, but never sup
planted in common use the old, simple
words. This is the story of the origin
of John Browns Body" as told by
the members of the band and the regi-
ment with whom it had its use as a