Francis Bret Harte (1836-1902) was well known for his humorous verse and tales of California mining life. He also wrote both serious and humorous poetry about the Civil War. Harte spent much of the Civil War as Secretary of the California Mint, which allowed him ample time to devote to writing. He became nationally famous [...]
By the fall of 1861, the song John Brown’s Body (also known as The John Brown Song) had become a popular marching song with Union Army soldiers. When Julia Ward Howe–poet, abolitionist, and social activist–paid a visit to a Union Army troop review and camps near Washington D.C. in November 1861, she was inspired to [...]
Continue reading about The 6th Wisconsin Infantry and the Writing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Here is a poem by newspaperman, George Morrow Mayo, written during World War I, referencing the Civil War, which became quite popular. He hoped the spirit of Ulysses L. Grant would be with soldiers from the North, and the spirit of Robert E. Lee with sons of the South. The poem received stirring tributes all [...]
Iron Brigader began its blog with a poem by Edmund Clarence Stedman, a poet from Connecticut who served as a field correspondent for the “New York World” in the early years of the Civil War. Today, we bring you a poem written by a southerner, which versifies the April 13, 1861 bombardment of the Fort, [...]
Ella Wheeler Wilcox was not a Civil War poet, per se, although she did live through the war and at least had the direct experience of seeing her brothers leave to serve their country. “One went in as a mere lad,” she said In her autobiography, “The World and I (1918),” and noted that they [...]
Continue reading about ‘When the Regiment Came Back’ by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Today we have a Christmas poem written by Thomas Hill (1818-1891), taken from a 16-page booklet entitled Christmas, and poems on slavery, for Christmas, 1843 in support of an anti-slavery fair in Massachusetts. The then 25-year-old Hill dedicated the pamphlet to Eliza Lee Follen and we also have some interesting information about these individuals. Mrs. Follen [...]
