Song Name: Marching Through Georgia
Year of Release: 1865
Written By: Henry Clay Work
Released by: No original recording exists, though later renditions are available
Key Lyrics: "Sing it as we used to sing it 50,000 strong/While we were marching through Georgia."
"So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea/While we were marching through Georgia."
"So we made a thoroughfare for freedom and her train/Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the Maine."
Description: The song recounts General William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea, where he captured Atlanta, burned it, and then began marching through the rest of Georgia while employing scorched earth tactics to burn any Confederate resources in his way. The song specifically mentions the geographic coordinates covered during the march (60 miles in latitude). Told from a Union soldier's perspective, the song focuses on the liberation of enslaved people, mentions the flight of the Confederates who saw no point in continuing rebellion, and portrays the Union troops as liberators. The song notably does not focus on the significant amount of destruction caused by the Union troops during the march, choosing instead to focus on Union ideals of freeing enslaved people and quashing the rebellion.
Why It Was Important: The song recounts one of the most historically significant events of the Civil War (the March to the Sea), which destroyed Southern morale and resources. Its lyrics paint the Union's actions as uniformly good: freeing the enslaved, stopping the rebellion, and unifying the country. The lyrics thus gloss over the destruction caused by the Union, showing that, like many songs of the time, it provided a one-sided, propagandistic perspective of the conflict. After the war, the song was frequently played at Union veterans' events, showing that, like many other wartime songs, it remained popular after the war. However, Sherman grew to dislike it as people would always perform the song at public functions he attended. Contrary to other songs of the era, it was despised by the other side, as many Southerners did not like the imagery in the lyrics. It is likely that while other tunes like "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag" were able to be enjoyed by both sides since the lyrics could easily be altered to mock the other side, "Marching Through Georgia" was so thoroughly anti-South that separating it from its original context was impossible.
Recordings:
Marching Through Georgia (Tennessee Ernie Ford version)