Julia Ward Howe

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Ray Freeman.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with the Special English program, PEOPLE
IN AMERICA. Every week we tell about a person important in the
history of the United States.

Today, we tell about Julia Ward Howe. She wrote one of the great
songs of the American Civil War, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

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VOICE ONE:

Marching soldiers ... no end to the lines of soldiers marching
across the land. They came from the northern states fighting to keep
the Union together. And they came from the southern states fighting
for a separate Confederate government that would protect their right
to have slaves. In summer and winter, the fighting continued. The
sun burned like fire. The soldiers marched on. The cold winter winds
blew snow in their faces. The soldiers marched on.

The United States was a nation cut
in two by a bitter struggle over slavery and a state's right to
leave the Union. America's Civil War lasted four years. It destroyed
the land. And it destroyed the young men of the nation.

VOICE TWO:

Many stories have been told about the soldiers of the Civil War.
They have told of the soldiers' fear and terror. . .their great and
heroic acts. . .how they suffered and died. . .and how they sang
before and after battle. One song, more than any other, caught the
spirit of the Union soldiers of the North. The song is the "Battle
Hymn of the Republic." Here is the first part of the song, sung by
Odetta:

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VOICE ONE:

The words are religious. They are like a hymn, a song of praise
to God. This is the story of the woman who wrote the song.

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VOICE TWO:

The place was Washington, D.C. The year was eighteen sixty-one.
It was a wet winter night. There were thousands of soldiers in the
city. The hospitals were full. The field of battle was just across
the Potomac River in the southern state of Virginia.

A woman lay asleep in her hotel room. She had had a long, hard
day. She had come to Washington to visit the Union troops. The sight
and sounds of the soldiers gave her no rest. Even in her sleep she
seemed to hear them. She heard their sad voices as they sat beside
their fires. She heard them singing. They sang a marching song she
knew. It was a song about John Brown, an activist against slavery.
The song told about how his body turned to earth in the grave. It
told about how his spirit lived on.

VOICE ONE:

The woman's name was Julia Ward Howe. She was a writer and social
reformer. She was born in New York City in eighteen nineteen. Her
father was a wealthy banker. Julia married Samuel Gridley Howe. He
was a reformer and teacher of the blind. Julia and Samuel Howe moved
to Boston. Missus Howe raised five children. And she published
several books of poetry.

VOICE TWO:

Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Gridley Howe were leaders in the
movement in America to end slavery. They published an anti-slavery
newspaper called the "Commonwealth."

Missus Howe had met John Brown. Like him, she was an anti-slavery
activist. She opposed those Americans who used black people as
slaves. Unlike him, she did not approve of using violence to end
slavery.

In eighteen fifty-nine, John Brown tried to start a revolt of
slaves. He led an attack on Harper's Ferry, a town in what was then
the state of Virginia. [Editor's note: That area did not become the
state of West Virginia until 1863.] The town had a factory that made
guns for the army. It also had a storage center for military
equipment. The attack on Harper's Ferry failed. John Brown was put
on trial for treason. He was found guilty and was executed.

VOICE ONE:

In the northern states, John Brown became a hero. His story was
told through song. The song was most popular with soldiers. It
became the unofficial marching song of the Union Army.

Julia Ward Howe also liked to sing the song. She felt that the
music was beautiful, but the words about John Brown were not. So she
decided to write different words to the music.

Those words came to her that night as she lay in her hotel room
in Washington. She was awakened by her dreams of marching soldiers.

VOICE TWO (WOMAN'S VOICE):

"I found to my surprise that the words were forming themselves in
my head. I lay still until the last line had completed itself in my
thoughts.

Then I quickly got out of bed. I thought I would forget the words
if I did not write them immediately. I looked for a piece of paper
and a pen. Then I began to write the lines of a poem:

'Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is
trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, He
hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword, His
truth is marching on.'

I wrote until I was finished. Then I lay down again and fell
asleep. I felt something important had happened to me."

VOICE ONE:

An American magazine, "The
Atlantic Monthly," bought Missus Howe's poem. She was paid four
dollars. The magazine published the poem in eighteen sixty-two. The
poem became very popular. It had just the right words for the great
marching music. The soldiers of the Union Army began to sing the
words Julia Ward Howe had written. It soon became their official
marching song -- "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

VOICE TWO:

Julia Ward Howe became famous. She was invited to the White House
to meet President Abraham Lincoln. After dinner at the White House,
the guests talked about the Civil War. They were sad. The Union army
had suffered many defeats. Then someone began to sing "The Battle
Hymn of the Republic." Missus Howe and President Lincoln joined in
the singing. There were tears in the President's eyes. Here is the
last part of the song, sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

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VOICE ONE:

After the North won the Civil War in eighteen sixty-five, Julia
Ward Howe became involved in other social reform movements. She
became a leader in the movement to gain equal rights for American
women, including the right to vote. She helped establish the New
England Woman's Club in eighteen sixty-eight. This organization
worked for equal rights for women in education and business. She
served as president of the group for more than thirty years.

VOICE TWO:

Julia Ward Howe also became involved in the movement for peace.
In eighteen seventy, she issued an "Appeal to Womanhood Throughout
the World." This was a call for an international conference of women
to support the peaceful settlement of conflicts. The next year she
helped organize the American group of the Woman's International
Peace Association. She became president of the group.

Julia Ward Howe continued to write books and make speeches about
the issues she felt were important. Through the years, thousands of
people came to hear her recite her most famous poem. She died in
nineteen ten. She was ninety-one years old.

VOICE ONE:

The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" still is one of America's great
traditional songs. No one knows for sure who wrote the music. But
the song lives on. And so does the name of the woman who made the
music famous with her words: Julia Ward Howe.

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VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It
was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE
IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.