A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Hedge was the son of Harvard University professor of logic and metaphysics Levi Hedge. At the age of 12, he traveled to Germany and studied music for five years under the care of George Bancroft. He then entered Harvard as a junior and graduated in 1825. His knowledge of German was to serve him well both in hymnody — he translated Luther's "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God") into the most popular English version — and in philosophy, where it allowed him a greater familiarity with Kant than most of the Americans of his day.