Rewriting the Soldier’s Song

Image of Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic

Photograph of Julia Ward Howe as an older woman

John Brown, the abolitionist commemorated in the song John Brown’s Body, upon which the Battle Hymn of the Republic is based

Original printing of the Battle Hymn in the Atlantic Monthly

Of course, we can’t talk about the Battle Hymn of the Republic without mentioning Blood Upon the Risers, the WWII paratrooper version of the song featured in the miniseries Band of Brothers. If you look up the song, note that it is in the spirit of John Brown’s Body rather than the polite restraint of the Battle Hymn.