Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. There is no song that more vividly evokes that conflict than "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Julia Ward Howe wrote the famous ...

It was sung at Ronald Reagan's funeral, and adopted with new lyrics by labor radicals. John Updike quoted it in the title of one of his novels, and George W. Bush had it performed at the memorial ...

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!, voices cry out against a steadily marching beat and victorious trumpet blasts. It is the swelling sound of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a timeless song that inspires ...

In November 1861, the poet Julia Ward Howe took the melody of the abolitionist singalong “John Brown’s Body” and added a new set of lyrics meant to inspire the Union to righteous victory. The editors ...

Julia Ward Howe remembered years later that she had awakened around dawn in her room in Willard’s Hotel with the lyrics floating in her head. It was November 1861, and she was on her first trip to ...

To end a holiday concert at Montréal’s symphony hall earlier this month, superstar conductor and five-time 2023 Grammy nominee Yannick Nézet-Séguin led his hometown orchestra, two soloists, a massive ...

On Nov. 18, 1861, Julia Ward Howe, a prominent Boston poet, attended a review of Union troops outside Washington, D.C. As her carriage made its way back to the city, inching along roads clogged with ...

Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in a different format as part of The Atlantic’s Notes section, retired in 2021. During the Civil War, the “Battle Hymn” became a rallying cry of the ...

Since the September terrorist attacks on the United States, a spirit of patriotism has swept the country. American flags are seen everywhere and patriotic anthems are often performed. One the most ...

The ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ has marched its way through American history. But does it do justice to Jesus? I learned most of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" before I started grade school. The ...