Marching Through Georgia

DESCRIPTION: Sundry boasts, mostly too optimistic, about Sherman's march to the sea: "How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound.... Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears... While we were marching through Georgia."
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (sheet music published by S. Brainerd's Sons)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 15, 1864 - William T. Sherman splits his army (which had conquered Atlanta on September 1) into two parts. One, under Thomas, is to defend Atlanta, while Sherman takes nearly 60,000 men on the "March to the Sea"
Dec 10, 1864 - Sherman's forces reach Savannah
Dec 21, 1864 - Sherman captures Savannah
FOUND IN: US(MW) Australia
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Work-SongsOf-Henry-Clay-Work, pp. 17-20, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune, a copy of the original sheet music)
Jackson-PopularSongsOfNineteenthCenturyAmerica, pp. 126-129, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson-FolkSongsOfAustralia, p. 34, "The Battle Cry of Freedom" (1 text, 1 tune, composed of equal parts of this song and "The Battle Cry of Freedom")
Dean-FlyingCloud, pp. 119-120, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 423, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, from a broadside by Johnson & Cartlitch, plus a copy of the Root & Cady sheet music cover)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 306-308, "Marching Through Georgis" (1 text plus a sheet music cover)
Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar, pp. 43-45, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SoldierSongsAndHomeFrontBalladsOfCivilWar, pp. 78-79, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1381, p. 94, "Marching Through Georgia" (3 references)
Dime-Song-Book #17, p. 57, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Emerson-StephenFosterAndCo, pp. 122-124, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Messerli-ListenToTheMockingbird, pp. 155-157, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Hill-PoemsAndSongsOfTheCivilWar, pp. 207-208, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 278, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Heart-Songs, pp. 310-311, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jolly-Miller-Songster-5thEd, #13, "Marching Thro' Georgia" (1 text)
Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, p. 91, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 349, "Marching Through Georgia"
DT, MRCHGRGA*
ST MA034A (Full)
Roud #9596
RECORDINGS:
[Byron G.] Harlan & [Roba] Stanley, "Marching Through Georgia" (CYL: Edison 8606, 1904) (Columbia 1776, 1904) (Victor 4217, 1905)
J. W. Myers, "Marching Through Georgia" (Victor 4289, 1905)
Pete Seeger & Bill McAdoo, "Marching Through Georgia" (on PeteSeeger28)
Guy Wolff, "Marching Through Georgia" (Piotr-Archive #443, recorded 01/08/2023 -- heavily modified, perhaps to make it less controversial and more useful as a dance tune or the like)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Golden Gullies of the Palmer" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Workingmen's Army" (tune & meter)
cf. "Coxey Army" (tune)
cf. "Marching to Cuba" (tune)
cf. "All Are Talking of Utah" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Marching to Cuba (File: BrII237)
All Are Talking of Utah (File: CAFS2601)
Marching to Dixie (File: ChMS116)
Song for the Temple Volunteers (File: ChMS126)
Hooray, Hooray (File: CrAG34B)
When We Go Marching Home (File: LDC294)
Come, Ye Toiling Millions (File: LDC482)
Marching for Freedom (File: Wels060)
Our Jam (File: NeTT057)
Rows and Rows and Rows (File: WJL175)
Hurrah, Hurrah, My Mother's Gonna Be Hung (File: MWFB238D)
Marching to Freedom ("Rouse, ye sons of labor all, and rally in your might! In the Eastern heavens see the dawning of the light") (Foner, p. 165)
The Workingmen's Army ("When rebel shot and rebel shell burst open Sumter's wall, When honest Abraham Lincoln's voice aroused the people all") (Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, pp. 59-60; Foner, p. 257)
Coxey Army ("Bring the good old bugle, boys, we want to tell in song, The Coxey army's marching from the town of Massillon") (Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, pp. 62-63; Foner, p. 253)
Marching with Coxey ("We are marching to the Capital, three hundred thousand strong") (Foner, p. 253)
The People's Choice (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 126)
Labor Song ("Start the music, brothers, we will sing a labor song, Sing it with a vim that will speed our cause along") (by John Siney) (Foner, p. 98)
Labor Free for All ("Start the music, comrades, we will sing a labor song, We'll sing it with a spirit that will speed the cause along") (Foner, p. 154)
The March of the Toilers ("Shall we work for hunger pay, that's the question now") (Foner, p. 134)
The Unionist's Song ("Gabriel, blow the clarion and sound the bugle-horn") (Foner, p. 178)
Industrial Freedom ("Sing along the tidings that the race will yet be free") (by S. M. Jones) (Foner, p. 182)
A Song of Eight Hours ("Lo, a vision of dismay, a lurid glimpse of doom") (by E. R. Place) (Foner, p. 220)
The Land Song ("Sound a blast for Freedom, boys, and send it far and wide!") (Foner, p. 261)
March of United Labor ("Come forth, ye toiling millions, and join our worthy band") (by George Campbell) (Foner, p. 267)
Gold Bugs Go Down Before Bryan ("Bring the silver bugle, boys, We'll sing another song... Sing it as they sung it in The anti-gold bug throng") (Foner, p. 283)
When We're United for Freedom ("They tell us that the woods are full, they're coming right along") (by H. B. Salisbury)
While We Are Voting for Garfield ("Let us join our voices, boys, And sing an anthem grand") (Garfield and Arthur Campaign Song Book 1880, p. 7)
Republicans, Remember ("Republicans, remember how in eighteen sixty-one, The fight for human liberty at Sumter was begun") (Garfield and Arthur Campaign Song Book 1880, p. 13)
Hurrah! Hurrah! The Battle Has Begun ("Fling out the starry banner, boys, the flag we love full well") (Garfield and Arthur Campaign Song Book 1880, p. 19)
We Must Vote for Prohibition ("Jump into the wagon, boys, and ev'rybody sing") (by Frank D. Reno) (Anna Adams Gordon, _Popular Campaign Songs_, National W.C.T.U. Publishing House, 1915, p. 17)
They Vote for Prohibition ("Do you see the women of the golden sunset west") (Anna Adams Gordon, _Popular Campaign Songs_, National W.C.T.U. Publishing House, 1915, p. 27)
Marching to Victory ("Bring the good old bugle, boys, and sound the call to war, We're out for prohibition, now") (by Ethel M. Van Vliet) (Anna Adams Gordon, _Popular Campaign Songs_, National W.C.T.U. Publishing House, 1915, p. 27)
The Battle Song of the "Iowa" (by Clay M. Greene, about the Spanish-American War) ("Clear the decks for action, boys, we're brave and strong and true") (Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, p. 148)
The Freedom of Cuba (by Ella Strait Hollister) ("See the cruel bondage of the Spaniard's mighty host") (Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, p. 148)
Marching on Georgia ("Georgia was a little girl who lived in Tennessee, he had a ticklish feeling on her ankle and her knee") (Harbin-Parodology, #215, p. 55)
NOTES [194 words]: Although Work can hardly be blamed for his cheerful view of the March to the Sea, it was in fact little better than terrorism. Sherman's expressed goal was to "make Georgia howl," and he certainly succeeded; a region some fifty miles across was devastated. (Sherman was, in fact, reviving the chevauchee, the method by which the armies of the Middle Ages destroyed their enemies' agricultural base).
Even if there had been Union men in the region before, there were none left afterward.
"Marching Through Georgia" has been called "the most hated song in the south."
The one other person who hated the song was none other than Sherman himself; he reportedly said, "If I had thought when I made that march that it would have inspired anyone to compose the piece, I would have marched AROUND the state."
Sherman became the most hated man in the south for the rest of his life. It's ironic to note that, when Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the last real southern army to Sherman, Sherman gave such generous terms (to Johnston and anyone else willing to take them) that the North instantly repudiated them. There were loud calls for his removal -- as being too soft! - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: MA034A

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