{"id":4292,"date":"2003-02-24T20:57:29","date_gmt":"2003-02-25T01:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/?p=4292"},"modified":"2025-12-29T17:59:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T22:59:56","slug":"the-battle-cry-of-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/archives\/4292","title":{"rendered":"“The Battle-Cry of Freedom”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fiddle began to play a marching tune, and Pa’s clear voice was singing like a deep-toned bell…. — Little House on the Prairie, Chapter 26, “Going Out”<\/em><\/p>\n

Then he took his fiddle out of its box. He played for a long time in the twilight, while Laura and Mary sat close to him and Ma rocked Carrie near by. He played “Dixie Land,” and “We’ll Rally Round the Flag, Boys!” — On the Banks of Plum Creek, Chapter 26, “Grasshopper Eggs”<\/em><\/p>\n

     
\nW<\/span>hat Pa calls “We’ll Rally Round the Flag, Boys!” was what Union troops knew as “The Battle-Cry of Freedom,” written by George Frederick Root in 1862. Root realized that there was need of a song that soldiers could “carry with them” into battle, and no sooner had he finished the song than he was asked to compose a song to sing at a war meeting in Chicago. “The Battle-Cry of Freedom” spread to both Union and Confederate troops, the Southern men needing to change only a few words to suit their cause. Root himself wrote two sets of verses for his tune: one for use as a civilian rallying song and another as a battle song. Since Laura Ingalls Wilder only quotes the chorus, it’s impossible to know which version Pa sang.<\/p>\n

George Frederick Root (1820-1895) was born in Massachusetts and died in Maine. By the time he was 13, he boasted that he could play as many instruments as his age. As a young adult, he played organ in church and taught music at an institute for young ladies. In 1851, he began composing. “The Battle-Cry of Freedom” is probably his most famous piece. In 1859, he began work at Root & Cady, his brother’s publishing company in Chicago.<\/p>\n

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\r\n\t\t\t\t\tTHE BATTLE-CRY OF FREEDOM<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Yes, we’ll rally round the flag, boys, we’ll rally once again,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.\n
And we’ll rally from the hillside, we’ll gather from the plain,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.<\/p>\n

[chorus] The Union forever, hurrah, boys, hurrah!\n
Down with the traitor, up with the Star,\n
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.<\/p>\n

2. We are springing to the call, three hundred thousand more,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,\n
And we’ll fill the vacant ranks of our brothers gone before,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.<\/p>\n

3. We will welcome to our numbers the loyal true and brave,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.\n
And altho’ he may be poor he shall never be a slave,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.<\/p>\n

4. So we’re singing to the call from the East and from the West,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,\n
And we’ll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best,\n
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

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CLICK HERE<\/a> to listen. <\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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<\/a>   \n<\/a>   \n<\/a>   \n<\/a>   \n<\/a>   <\/p>\n

Click on the above images to view a copy of original sheet music for “The Battle-Cry of Freedom”.<\/p>\n

This music is archived in the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0185 USA.. The Historic American Sheet Music Program provides access to music published in the United States between 1850 and 1920.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

     
\n
\n“The Battle Cry of Freedom”<\/strong> (LHP 26, BPC 26)
\n     “And we’ll Rally Round the Flag, Boys!” (LHP 26)
\n     “We’ll Rally Round the Flag, Boys!” (BPC 26)
\n     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ll Rally Round the Flag, Boys!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[645],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17759,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions\/17759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}