Broadcast: February 27, 2005
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VOICE ONE:
I'm Ray Freeman.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Shirley Griffith with the Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA.
Every week we tell about a person important in the history of the United
States.
Today, we tell about Julia Ward Howe. She wrote one of the great songs of the
American Civil War, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
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VOICE ONE:
Marching soldiers ... no end to the lines of soldiers marching across the
land. They came from the northern states fighting to keep the Union together.
And they came from the southern states fighting for a separate Confederate
government that would protect their right to have slaves. In summer and
winter, the fighting continued. The sun burned like fire. The soldiers
marched on. The cold winter winds blew snow in their faces. The soldiers
marched on.
The United States was a nation cut in two by a bitter struggle over slavery
and a state's right to leave the Union. America's Civil War lasted four
years. It destroyed the land. And it destroyed the young men of the nation.
VOICE TWO:
Many stories have been told about the soldiers of the Civil War. They have
told of the soldiers’ fear and terror. . .their great and heroic acts. .
.how they suffered and died. . .and how they sang before and after battle.
One song, more than any other, caught the spirit of the Union soldiers of the
North. The song is the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Here is the first part
of the song, sung by Odetta:
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VOICE ONE:
The words are religious. They are like a hymn, a song of praise to God. This
is the story of the woman who wrote the song.
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VOICE TWO:
The place was Washington, D.C. The year was eighteen sixty-one. It was a wet
winter night. There were thousands of soldiers in the city. The hospitals
were full. The field of battle was just across the Potomac River in the
southern state of Virginia.
A woman lay asleep in her hotel room. She had had a long, hard day. She had
come to Washington to visit the Union troops. The sight and sounds of the
soldiers gave her no rest. Even in her sleep she seemed to hear them. She
heard their sad voices as they sat beside their fires. She heard them
singing. They sang a marching song she knew. It was a song about John Brown,
an activist against slavery. The song told about how his body turned to earth
in the grave. It told about how his spirit lived on.
VOICE ONE:
The woman's name was Julia Ward Howe. She was a writer and social reformer.
She was born in New York City in eighteen nineteen. Her father was a wealthy
banker. Julia married Samuel Gridley Howe. He was a reformer and teacher of
the blind. Julia and Samuel Howe moved to Boston. Missus Howe raised five
children. And she published several books of poetry.
VOICE TWO:
