2/11: Music of the Civil War
Music moved the Civil War soldier. And not just in the sense of the drums and bugles calling the men to battle. Music was an integral part of daily solider life, be it on the march on around the campfire. Patriotic songs such as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Marching Through Georgia” stirred the blood. Soulful tunes such as “Aura Lea” and “Home Sweet Home” touched the heart. And humorous ballads such as “Join the Cavalry” and “Hard Tack, Come Again No More” poked fun at everything from the foe to the daily food ration.
Enemies on the battlefield, soldiers both North and South shared a common musical heritage. They enjoyed the same music, although not always the same sentiments expressed by the lyrics. For example, the words to the popular “Battle Cry of Freedom” were rewritten during the war to make the song acceptable to Confederate listeners. “Dixie,” that anthem of the South, was a particular favorite of Abraham Lincoln. By contrast, Lincoln presumably did not enjoy the newly written “Maryland, My Maryland” (Maryland’s state song for some 80 years) that commemorated the citizen-victims of the April 1861 attack on U.S. troops passing through Baltimore. That song’s lyrics warned “the despot’s heel is on thy shore,” and had references to the “tyrant” Lincoln and “Northern scum.”
Civil War-era songs have a rich and interesting history. Together, they offer a compelling story.
To both tell (and perform) that story, on Tuesday, February 11, the Roanoke Civil War Round Table—winner of a 2024 Kegley Award for Heritage Education [see https://roanokepreservation.org/preservation-awards/]—hosts Geoff White, who will present “Music of the Civil War.” Mr. White has degrees in broadcast journalism from Washington & Lee University and in history from Radford University, where his studies concentrated on music of the Civil War. In addition to performing throughout Virginia, he has given presentations at Sailor’s Creek battlefield, and for the Rappahannock Valley Civil War Roundtable. He played fiddle in the band Sugar Run and now teaches violin and viola in his hometown Roanoke, Virginia.
Date, Time & Location: Tuesday, February 11 (7:00 pm). Chapel of the Residents’ Center at Friendship, 397 Hershberger Road, Roanoke, VA, 24012. Admission is free (but becoming a Round Table member welcome).