"Marching Through Georgia" is an American Civil War-era marching song written and composed by Henry Clay Work. It is sung from the perspective of a Union soldier who had participated in Sherman's March to the Sea; he looks back on the triumph after which Georgia became a "thoroughfare for freedom" and the Confederacy neared collapse.

Work made a name for himself in the Civil War for penning songs that reflected the Union's struggle and progress in the war. The music publishing house Root & Cady employed him in 1861, a post he maintained throughout the war. Following the March to the Sea, the Union's triumph that left Confederate resources in tatters and civilians in anguish, Work was inspired to write a commemorative tune, "Marching Through Georgia".

The song was released in January 1865 to widespread success. One of the few Civil War compositions that withstood the war's end, it cemented a place in veteran reunions and marching parades. Sherman, to whom the song is dedicated, grew to despise it after being repeatedly subjected to its strains at public gatherings he attended. Its reputation has also floundered in the South, having caused controversy several times when played during Democratic National Conventions in the early 1900s. "Marching Through Georgia" lent its tune to numerous partisan hymns, such as "Billy Boys" and "The Land". Beyond the United States, troops across the world have adopted it as a marching standard, from the Japanese in the Russo–Japanese War to the British in World War Two.

Background

Work as a songwriter

Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) was a printer by trade. However, his passion rested in music, a passion that blossomed during his youth and drew him into songwriting. He published a song for the first time in 1853,Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 213, 216 and eight years later, when the American Civil War broke out, his musical efforts took on a new life. Work promptly approached the Chicagoan music publishing firm Root & Cady, presenting its publishing director George F. Root with a manuscript of "Kingdom Coming". Root was impressed and assigned him a post.Carder, George F. Root, 114

Throughout the Civil War, music bore great importance. As the musicologist Irwin Silber comments: "[S]oldiers and civilians of the Union states were inspired and propagandized by a host of patriotic songs." Work, a Northerner, penned 29 songs from 1861 to 1865;Kelley & Snell, Bugle Resounding, 121 they have been noted for communicating the feelings of Union civilians, perhaps more so than those of any other songwriter", observes The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Sadie & Tyrrell, New Grove Dictionary, 568 Some of Work's wartime compositions also impart antislavery sentiments, stemming from his upbringing on the Underground Railroad.

"Marching Through Georgia" was his most fruitful work yet. Released around January 9, 1865,Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 214 it commemorates the March to the Sea, a momentous Union triumph that had taken place a few weeks before. The song is dedicated to the campaign's mastermind, Major General William T. Sherman.Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 426 While other contemporary songs honored the march, such as H. M. Higgins' "General Sherman and His Boys in Blue" and S. T. Gordon's "Sherman's March to the Sea", Work's composition remains the best known.Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 16, 238

March to the Sea

By September 1864, the Union looked set to win the Civil War. Sherman, who had just captured Atlanta, decided to pursue the coastal city of Savannah with a unit of 62,000 troops. On November 15, they left Atlanta to commence the March to the Sea. Progress was smooth. After a series of minor skirmishes and just two notable engagements at Griswoldville and Fort McAllister, the Union army moved into Savannah on December 21, which concluded the march.

Sherman's campaign bore two immediate impacts on the South. Firstly, troops left destruction and paucity in their tracks as they scavenged the land for food and resources and laid waste to public buildings and infrastructure. This fit Sherman's strategy—to persuade Southerners that the war was not worth supporting anymore.Hattaway, How the North Won, 641–642 Secondly, it inspired Southern slaves to flee to freedom. Over 14,000 joined the Union troops in Georgia with brisk enthusiasm once they passed near their native plantation, cementing the campaign as a milestone of emancipation.

A pioneering use of psychological warfare and total war,Merzalek, "Sherman's March to the Sea" the destruction wrought by Sherman's troops terrorized the South. Civilians whose territory and resources were ravaged grew so appalled at the conflict that their will to fight on dissipated, as Sherman had intended. The march further crippled the Southern economy, incurring losses of approximately $100 million. In the historian Richard D. Goff's words, it "[knocked] the Confederate war effort to pieces".

Composition Lyrical analysis

"Marching Through Georgia" is sung from a Union soldier's point of view. He had taken part in the March to the Sea and now recounts the campaign's triumphs and their repercussions on the Confederacy. The song comprises five stanzas and a refrain. The first stanza commences with a rallying cry for Sherman's troops.Tome, "Marching Through Georgia" Notably, it underrepresents their number as 50,000, when over 60,000 took part in the march. The chorus symbolizes the end of African American servitude and the advent of a new life of freedom; it renders the war an effort in emancipation above all else.McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169 A retelling of Southern Unionists' celebration of the Northern troops defines the third stanza: they "[weep] with joyful tears / When they [see] the honor'd flag they had not seen for years".Work, Songs, 18–19 A comedic tone is imbued in the fourth stanza, where the Confederates who had scoffed at Sherman's campaign or otherwise hoped to thwart Union efforts see themselves proven wrong. The final stanza celebrates the success of the march, after which "treason fled before [the Union troops] for resistance was in vain".Work, Songs, 19

The historian Christian McWhirter evaluates the song's lyrical and thematic framework:

The music historian Kent A. Bowman recognizes "Marching Through Georgia" as one of the few songs narrating a whole campaign from start to end, as well as the sole Civil War campaign song by a major writer of war songs. As it "telescopes the action of the campaign", it just brushes through some reputed facts and overlooks specific battles, strategies, or soldiers, save for Sherman. It makes several errors and resorts to romantic garnishes, such as Southern Unionists crying with joy upon meeting the invading forces and "treason [fleeing]" the recaptured state.Bowman, Voices of Combat, 136–137 Most strikingly, Bowman writes, "Marching Through Georgia" ignores the pillaging and destruction wrought by Sherman's troops during the campaign; it is not known whether Work had heard of or agreed with these actions.Bowman, Voices of Combat, 137

Musical analysis "Marching Through Georgia" is in common time and in the key of B♭ major. It begins with a four-bar introduction which follows the chord progression B♭–E♭–B♭–F7–B♭. Each verse and chorus is eight bars long. A soloist is intended to sing the individual stanzas, and a joint choir accompanies the solo voice for the chorus. Work does not write any expression markings or dynamics throughout the song, save for a fortissimo marking at the start of the chorus. The original sheet music provides a piano accompaniment to be performed during the song. According to the writer Florine Thayer McCray, the song's "suggestive verse" and "swinging meter" evoke the enthusiasm felt by Union troops during the campaign.McCray, "About Henry Clay Work", 10

General analysis Like other pieces in Work's wartime catalog, "Marching Through Georgia" captures contemporary attitudes among Northern civilians—in this case, jubilation over Sherman's fruitful campaign. It fulfilled their demand for a celebratory patriotic hymn. The song imparts patriotic spirit,Carder, George F. Root, 153 such that it "rubbed Yankee salt into one of the sorest wounds of the Civil War" in the musicologist Sigmund Spaeth's words. To soldiers, Work's piece was the "only [one] which ... thoroughly expressed their triumphant enthusiasm", according to a postwar writer.quoted in McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169

"Marching Through Georgia" was one of the few wartime compositions to outlast the conflict. Civilians had grown tired of war, mirrored by the short-lasting fame of "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!", an anthem well known among Northerners that nonetheless left the spotlight after 1865. In his autobiography published 26 years after Work drafted the song, George F. Root explains its unique postbellum popularity:

Legacy

Postwar

"Marching Through Georgia" cemented itself as a Civil War icon.Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 7 It came to the define the March to the SeaEicher, The Longest Night, 763 and became Sherman's unofficial theme song. Selling 500,000 copies of sheet music within 12 years, it was one of the most successful wartime tunes and Work's most profitable hit up to that point. The music historian David Ewen regards it as "the greatest of his war songs",Ewen, Popular American Composers, 188 and Carl S. Lowden deems it his very best work, in part owing to its "soul-stirring" production and longevity.Lowden, "Stories of Old Home Songs", 9 Work published one final war hymn in June, Tis Finished!, or Sing Hallelujah", that thankfully celebrates the bloody conflict's cessation and calls upon listeners to "sing the vict'ry won".

Edwin Tribble opines that Work's fame after the war, the little he had, rested on the success of "Marching Through Georgia",Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 426–428 citing a letter he wrote to his long-time correspondent Susie Mitchell: "It is really surprising that I have excited so much curiosity and interest here [at an annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)], not only among romantic young women but among all classes. My connection with 'Marching Through Georgia' seems to be the cause."quoted in Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 428 Starting from the late nineteenth century, the song predominated Northern veteran gatherings.Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 428 Ewen agrees: he deems it "[the] song by which Work's name will always be associated".Ewen, All the Years, 78

Sherman himself came to loathe "Marching Through Georgia" because it was performed unremittingly at public functions he attended. When he reviewed the national encampment of the GAR in 1890, the hundreds of bands present played the tune every time they passed him for an unbroken seven hours. Eyewitnesses say "his patience collapsed and he declared that he would never again attend another encampment until every band in the United States had signed an agreement not to play 'Marching Though Georgia' in his presence". Sherman maintained his promise for all his life. However, the song was played at his funeral. Such was his vexation at Work's song that in 1890, he stated: "If I had thought when I made that march that it would have inspired anyone to compose such a piece, I would have marched around the state."quoted in Bowman, Voices of Combat, 137