1863 was a seminal year in the history of the United States of America–the mid-way point in a brutal war. And from its chaos come two wonderful, gifts of prose:
Abraham Lincoln penned one of the most touching descriptions of the Civil War (if your ancestors lived in a Union state) or the War Between the States (if they lived in the Confederate States of America.) We have celebrated his Gettysburg Address, a funeral memorial delivered at the dedication of the battlefield on 19 November 1863.
Now, let us celebrate the poem put to music–“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” written on 25 December 1863 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow expressed his despair at the deaths of his wife Frances and his son Charles who went to war against his father’s wishes and advice.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,and wild and sweet
the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
- Had rolled along
- The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
- A voice, a chime,
- A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
- And with the sound
- The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
- And made forlorn
- The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
- “For hate is strong,
- And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
- The Wrong shall fail,
- The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.
American losses from both sides of the battles fought in 1863 almost destroyed a whole generation of men. The slaves were freed, the soldiers were conscripted, and the nation all but collapsed. And these two literary gifts continue to comfort and inspire us today. Merry Christmas to you all! Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com