Julia Ward Howe and the Battle Hymn of the Republic
On November 17, 1861, Julia Ward Howe, an abolitionist and poet, traveled from Washington to Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, to see a review of Union troops. Returning to her hotel that evening, she rode by Upton's Hill, saw hundreds of campfires, and heard soldiers singing a popular tune, "John Brown's Body." Howe, not fond of the song’s words, decided to write her version. As a result, she wrote the lyrics to one of the Civil War’s most famous songs, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Best known as the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe was also an influential abolitionist and a noted proponent of women’s suffrage. She even helped establish Mother’s Day.
Julia Ward (1819–1910) was an heiress and aspiring poet when she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an acclaimed pioneer in the education of blind people. Together, the Howes knew many of the key figures of their era, from Charles Dickens to John Brown. But her husband also wasted her inheritance, isolated and discouraged her, and opposed her literary ambitions. She persisted and continued to publish poems and plays while raising six children.
Her lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1862 made her celebrated and revered, and the song became a rallying cry for the Union during the Civil War. However, Howe also continued to fight a civil war at home; she became a pacifist, suffragist, and world traveler. She came into her own as a tireless campaigner for women’s rights and social reform. By the time she died at the age of 91, she had written dozens of essays and poems; a biography of Transcendentalist and women’s-rights pioneer Margaret Fuller; founded several magazines and the Century Club of San Francisco; and became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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