Skip to content
— CH. 1 · ORIGINS IN CAMP MEETINGS —

John Brown's Body

~4 min read · Ch. 1 of 5
5 sections

  • The melody known today as John Brown's Body emerged from the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. These gatherings took place in frontier areas where people lacking regular church access would worship before traveling preachers arrived. The atmosphere combined wild religious fervor with spontaneous improvisation, allowing hymns to change through oral tradition rather than print. Early versions included lines like Say Brothers Will You Meet Us repeated three times before finishing with On Canaan's happy shore. The familiar Glory glory hallelujah chorus developed sometime between 1808 and the 1850s within this call-and-response singing tradition. Folk hymns circulated chiefly through oral transmission until printed collections appeared in South Carolina Virginia and Massachusetts between 1806 and 1808. By 1861 groups ranging from Baptists to Mormons claimed the tune as their own while it spread predominantly through Methodist and Baptist circuits.

  • In 1861 the new 29th New York Infantry Regiment stationed themselves in Charles Town Virginia where abolitionist John Brown had been executed. Contemporary accounts describe hundreds of soldiers visiting the hanging site daily to sing a refrain about Brown. Frederick Douglass later wrote in an 1874 newspaper piece that these men carried the song forward during their service. At Andersonville Prison Confederate visitors described Union prisoners singing the tune despite harsh conditions. On the 1st of May 1865 freed African Americans and white missionaries held a parade of 10000 people led by 3000 Black children singing John Brown's Body. This march honored 257 dead Union soldiers whose remains were reburied from a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. The event marked what is now recognized as Decoration Day or Memorial Day. The American consul in Vladivostok Russia reported Russian soldiers singing the song during the 1905 Revolution.

  • George Kimball published his account in 1890 describing how the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia known as the Tiger Battalion collectively created the lyrics. He stated that communal effort similar to spontaneous camp meeting composition gradually set words to the tune of Say Brothers. Leaders within the battalion felt the original lyrics were coarse and irreverent but could not stop their adoption. Members prepared verses for publication alongside publisher C.S. Hall while possibly enlisting local poets to polish content. William Steffe claimed he composed the melody in 1855 or 1856 for the Good Will Engine Company of Philadelphia. He recalled being asked to write it as a welcome song for visiting fire companies though he never identified who changed Bummers to Brothers. Thomas Brigham Bishop a Maine songwriter and Union soldier also received credit notably through James MacIntyre's 1916 book. Multiple authors including Frank E. Jerome appeared on lists claiming authorship despite the tune circulating decades before most were born.

  • The flavor of coarseness present in earliest John Brown lyrics made many uncomfortable leading to creation of variant texts aspiring toward higher literary quality. Julia Ward Howe wrote Battle Hymn of the Republic when a friend suggested Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune. Kimball suggests President Abraham Lincoln made this suggestion though other sources disagree. William Weston Patton published his influential version in the Chicago Tribune the 16th of December 1861 after composing it in October 1861. Capt. Lindley Miller wrote The Song of the First of Arkansas in 1864 while Sojourner Truth is sometimes credited with similar text titled The Valiant Soldiers. Edna Dean Proctor created The President's Proclamation in 1863 marking the Emancipation Proclamation occasion. These literary versions increased syllable count and added dotted rhythms to accommodate more words per verse. The result made verses and choruses rhythmically distinct while maintaining identical melodic profiles from earlier camp meeting songs.

  • Numerous informal adaptations emerged from mid-1800s to present making John Brown's Body an example of living folk music tradition. Italian singers Gino Negri and Milva recorded versions on albums including Canti della libertà released in 1965. Bobby Solo followed with original language recordings in 1966 while Los Marcellos Ferial produced another Italian variant. German children sing All the children are learning how to read using the melody while Sri Lankan cricket matches feature bilingual English and Sinhala versions. University of Pennsylvania adopted the tune for a fight song beginning Hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree. French paratroopers use a version meaning yes we'll all get our skulls broken but we'll come back victorious. Labor unions adopted elements as Solidarity Forever becoming an anthem for the Industrial Workers of the World. Pete Seeger recorded his widely circulated version in 1959 incorporating stanzas from Battle Hymn of the Republic. The melody also appears in World War II paratrooper songs Blood on the Risers and civilian skydiving chants.

Up Next

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Common questions

When did the melody known as John Brown's Body emerge from American camp meeting movements?

The melody emerged during the late 18th and early 19th century within American camp meeting gatherings. These events occurred in frontier areas where people worshipped before traveling preachers arrived.

Who wrote the lyrics for John Brown's Body according to George Kimball's account?

George Kimball stated that the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia known as the Tiger Battalion collectively created the lyrics. Leaders within the battalion felt the original lyrics were coarse but could not stop their adoption.

What event on the 1st of May 1865 featured thousands singing John Brown's Body?

Freed African Americans and white missionaries held a parade of 10000 people led by 3000 Black children singing John Brown's Body on the 1st of May 1865. This march honored 257 dead Union soldiers whose remains were reburied from a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp.

How did Julia Ward Howe contribute to the history of John Brown's Body?

Julia Ward Howe wrote Battle Hymn of the Republic when a friend suggested she write good words for that stirring tune. William Weston Patton published his influential version in the Chicago Tribune the 16th of December 1861 after composing it in October 1861.

Which modern groups have adapted the melody of John Brown's Body since the mid-1800s?

Italian singers Gino Negri and Milva recorded versions on albums including Canti della libertà released in 1965 while Pete Seeger recorded his widely circulated version in 1959. University of Pennsylvania adopted the tune for a fight song beginning Hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree.

See all questions about John Brown's Body →

All sources

30 references cited across the entry

  1. 1journalOrigin of the John Brown SongGeorge Kimball — December 1889
  2. 2inlineStauffer & Soskis, p. 21. Accessed via Google Books June 1, 2014
  3. 3journalCamp Meeting HymnodyCharles Johnson — 1952
  4. 4journalJohnson, Charles A. "The Frontier Camp Meeting: Contemporary and Historical AppraisalsCharles Johnson — 1950
  5. 5inlineRandall, p. 16. (Google books)
  6. 14newsThe Memory of John Brown HonoredAugust 2, 1861
  7. 15newsJohn BrownJanuary 27, 1874
  8. 16newsThe John Brown SongSeptember 10, 1885
  9. 17webOne of the Earliest Memorial Day Ceremonies Was Held by Freed African AmericansDave Roos — May 24, 2019
  10. 18bookAllies for freedom: Blacks and John BrownBenjamin Quarles — Oxford University Press — 1974
  11. 19bookThe British General ElectionR. B. McCallum — Routledge — 1964
  12. 20inlineGeorge Kimball, "Origin of the John Brown Song", New England Magazine, new series 1 (1890):372 online via Cornell University
  13. 22inlineFrederick Morse Cutler, The old First Massachusetts coast artillery in war and peace, Pilgrim Press, Boston, 1917, p. 105–106 (online via Internet Archive)
  14. 23inlineFrederick Morse Cutler, The 55th artillery (C.A.C.) in the American expeditionary forces, France, 1918, Commonwealth Press, Worcester, Mass, 1920, pp. 261ff (online via Internet Archive)
  15. 24newsSay, brother, who wrote this melody? Music historians still argue over the origins of one of the Union Army's most popular songsRobert W. Allen
  16. 25inline"Music: Hymn from Maine", Time, July 1, 1935, accessed May 3, 2009.
  17. 28webJohn Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave
  18. 29webTexts Sung to the Tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "John Brown's Body", arranged in approximate chronological orderBrent Hugh
  19. 30inlineCanti della libertà, su Discografia Nazionale della Musica Italiana, Istituto centrale per i beni sonori ed audiovisivi.
  20. 31inlineCanzoni e storie del west, su Discografia Nazionale della Musica Italiana, Istituto centrale per i beni sonori ed audiovisivi.
  21. 32inlineJohn Brown/Cavalca cowboy, su Discografia Nazionale della Musica Italiana, Istituto centrale per i beni sonori ed audiovisivi.
  22. 33webCanti scout in ITALIANO John Brown giace nella tomba là nel pianApril 7, 2012
  23. 34inlineShanties from the seven seas: shipboard work-songs and songs used as work-songs from the great days of sail, Stan Hugill, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1961 (online via Google Books)
  24. 35inlinePeter Rabbit song lyrics"
  25. 36webThe Aftermath of Sorrow: White Women's Search for their Lost Cause, 1861–1917Karen Aviva Rubin — 2007
  26. 37webHow we came to hang Jeff Davis in songDecember 11, 2003
  27. 38inlineSooty Banda (1988), The golden treasury of trilingual verse, Colombo: Associated Newspapers of Ceylon.
  28. 39inline"We'll Sing to Abe Our Song": Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War, from the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana
  29. 40newsHIS SOUL IS MARCHING ONSeptember 10, 1887
  30. 41citationJohn Brown's BodyMay 23, 2015