Five
dollars was all she was paid by the Atlantic Monthly Magazine for her
poem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, published FEBRUARY 1, 1862.
The Union's theme song during the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe wrote it
while visiting Washington, D.C., and seeing the teeming military,
galloping horses and countless campfires.
Sleeping unsoundly one night, she penned:
"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 has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on."
Julia Ward Howe continued:
"I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
'As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal';
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."
The next verse stated:
"He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on."
Julia Ward Howe's poem concluded:
"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea;
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on."
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