Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 10:49am

Battle Hymn of the Republic

 

Something for the weekend.  Battle Hymn of the Republic in the ending sequence of Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), John Ford’s look at Lincoln as a young lawyer.  Lincoln is shown walking into a thunder storm, a foreshadowing of the Civil War.  Out in the country in Central Illinois thunderstorms tend to brew up quickly and can be awe-inspiring/terrifying, especially if a tornado might be in the offing.  Henry Fonda was a native Nebraskan, so I am sure he appreciated the power of that scene.  My family and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Lincoln sites in Springfield yesterday, and more on that in a later post.  The song of course would not be written until 1861 by Julia Ward Howe.    Lincoln loved the Battle Hymn of the Republic.  After he first heard it performed, he asked, with tears in his eyes, that it be sung again.  Fittingly, it was sung at his funeral.

 

 

 

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