Introduction

Words: Will­iam Bill­ings (1746–1800).

Music: Ches­ter (Bill­ings), Will­iam Bill­ings (🔊 pdf nwc).

This work, known as the Bat­tle Hymn of the [Am­er­ican] Re­vo­lution, is of in­ter­est be­cause of its his­tor­ic­al back­ground:

[It] was al­most as fa­mous in its day as the “Bat­tle Hymn of the Republic” at a lat­er time. Ev­ery­where, in church and home, by the child­ren and the aged, these words were sung with pas­sion­ate fer­vor. The sol­diers knew them by heart, and to the sound of fife and drum they sang them as they ad­vanced to meet the foe. This Bat­tle Hymn con­trib­ut­ed not a lit­tle to the win­ning of the Re­vo­lu­tion­ary War.

Smith, pp. 250–51