Mitchell english 227
lilr331
The Civil War was a time where our nation was divided in half in which the North was striving to preserve the Union while the South was rebelling to break away to form the Confederate States of America. Through these hard times, many songs, ballads, hymns, poems, and different types of music were created in spite of the difficult times throughout the war. Although the Union and Confederates are all Americans, the songs they wrote were almost completely different. As well as the North and the South, Blacks (mostly slaves) had their own style of music separate from the Whites.
During the Civil War, the South was by far the underdog. They had fewer factories, less troops, less supplies, less everything except for great generals. Their leading general was Robert E. Lee who said, "I don't believe we can have an army without music." When marching into battle, it was very important to have a supporting band that would play certain types of music that would signal certain types of warfare movements, or purely to pump up the troop's morale. Although just a few years before the Civil War, the North and the South were a United States that fought wars together. As their differences grew stronger, the split happened. The music styles from the South are completely different. One example is what their songs are about, "Army of the south sang against hunger, exhaustion, cold, danger, wounds and an outnumbering, overwhelming enemy" because of their underdog status. Not everyone in the South was fond of music, but General Stonewall Jackson was quoted, "The sweetest music I've ever heard is the Rebel Yell" referring to the battle cry of the Southern troops. The Rebels had a song that was seen as their National anthem. This song is called Dixie: |
Although the Confederates put much emphasis into their songs, the Union was not without. The Union songs are headed towards the same goal as the Rebels, but took a much different approach. The Union songs usually involved a reference to previous battles that were either bloody, or battles that they lost. In doing this they could remember their fallen brothers, but by the end of the song, they would sing of their victories, glory and honor. One of the poems written by a northerner is called "At Gettysburg." Going through the poem by segments will give a much clearer understanding of how the North's songs differ from their brothers down south. Here it is written: "He told how the foeman had closed in upon "For days he had followed the cowardly band." |
This is a picture of the Washington, D.C. Drum Corps of 10th Veteran Reserve Corps which seems plain because they are currently using their leisure |
Silber, Irwin. Songs of the Civil War. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. |
During the Civil War, the lyrics of songs written by each the North and South were completely different. After the Civil War, this changes drastically. The songs written to commemorate this time went from hatred of a divided North and South, to a true care for their brothers and sisters of the United States. The songs during wartime were often used in hatred of their enemy. The South would commonly write songs of how evil Lincoln was, while the North would hurl insults about the inferiority of the South. Here a song is written: |
There has been much focus on the songs, ballads, poems, and hymns of the Whites during wartime, but little study on the Blacks of that time. Before the Civil War, there were hardly any free Blacks. If they were free, it was only temporary until someone ripped up their papers, or if they were just an extremely rare case. Nearly all Blacks were slaves. What is surprising is the influence that Whites had on Black's musical taste. In this review, "before the Civil War, there was no striking difference between the words sung by the Negros and the whites" it shows that the way white and black people worshipped or sang was very similar. Missionary efforts from the Methodists and Baptists were at its height between the 1830's and 1850's. Through their travel further South and West, the Whites shared their songs and culture with the newly found people. Referring to the Whites, "there is amble testimony that in the white camp meetings were to be found much orgiastic emotionalism, in coherent ranting, wild gesticulation, and singing ecstasy involving shouts and jerks and marked by considerable improvisation." Though the whites had their own revival camp meetings, some of their style may have rubbed off towards the African community. Professor Newman I writes, "the spiritual has lingered in the South and been assimilated and given race flavor by the Negro" which means the African Americans took a form of the Whites spiritual fervor and made it their own. As goes with their melodies, "the Negro's inheritance of music fundamentally different in basis from that of the white man and in his much more highly developed sense of rhythm, while Negro music preserves some echoes of Caucasian music." Dating back from the times the slaves were still living in West Africa, drums and rhythm instruments were an important part in their lives. This gives the Blacks an exceptional advantage over the Whites when it comes to dancing. Although there is much commonality between Whites and Blacks, "Spirituals are solely the creation of the American Negro." African Americans have solely created their own style of music that has been the uniqueness behind their culture that is so different from the Whites. |
Fisher, Miles Mark. Negro Slave Songs In The United States. New York: The Citadel Press, 1963.
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As we learned that Negro spirituals derived from White song, there is much more detail of why the Blacks partake in such activity. Not only did they have music because it was fun and was quite interesting, they would have secret meetings to sing and boost morality level along with prayer and hero tales. Most of what the Negroes sang was religious and a lot of their songs were depicted from daily life experiences. Among music was also dancing, which was a form of music in their case. To the Blacks, "Dancing was the universal rhythmic accompaniment to singing. Africans danced for joy, and they danced for grief; they danced for love, and they danced for hate; they danced to bring prosperity, and they danced to avert calamity; they danced for religion, and they danced to pass time." Being from West Africa, these slaves come from a background of one of the oldest rhythmic instruments. That instrument is the West African Drum. The West African Drum is a type of drum that you beat with both hands very rapidly that produce great rhythm to dance and sing to. There are countless amounts of differences from our culture to their culture. One of those differences is the term orchestra. When you think of an orchestra, you think string instruments such as a harp, violin, cello, and so on. An orchestra in terms of the Slaves was accompanied by, "vocal, rhythmic, and instrument expression, [these were] employed to celebrate all the carious life situations, both ritualistic and festival." In times of suffering and in times of need, slaves found ways to enjoy life through their unique use of music.
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The Civil War was by far the worst war America has ever encountered because every man killed was a fellow American. The songs written by our ancestors give us a great picture of the hatred, grief, pain, and suffering that the war brought upon them as well as the glory, patriotism, honor, and pride. There are substantial differences between Northern music compared to their counterparts down in the South. Both fighting for a cause they believe is right. Alongside them are the slaves who not only used music for enjoyment, but they dance, sing, use rhythm instruments, and anything that can lift their spirits out of the terrible life they were living. Music can mean one thing to one person, but something completely different to another. Whether you write songs to uplift your spirit to worship God, pass time to get you through a day, dance to beating drums to preserve your culture, or to chant your country's yell, music is music.