![]() As onewriter put it, the more successful songs were "the white caps of popular feeling."4 A surprisingly high proportion of these songs originated in Chicago from the presses of the music publishers, Root & Cady. The people sang in and out of the army, at home, in camp, at work, at play, marching and resting, at rallies in mighty choruses, and alone, one voice breaking the stillness and loneliness. Many of these songs were written to help fight the war by men whose sympathies were wholeheartedly with the Union cause. EPSTEIN songs continued to be popular through the Spanish-American War, World War I, and even World War II.3 Such songs as "The Battle Cry of Freedom," "Marching Through Georgia ," Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," and "Dixie" have become part of our folk heritage, whistled and sung by people who have little idea of their origin or history. Leland, "War-Songs and Their Influence in History," The United States Service Magazine, I (January, 1864), p. Long before the current Civil War boom, these 1 "Our War Songs," Musical Review and Musical World (New York), XV (November, 1864), p. ![]() But the songs that have faded least through the years are the best of the marching songs. Songs in honor of the flag, a local hero, or an eminent officer were succeeded by emancipation songs and lyrics of home and mother. As the war progressed, a flood of war music streamed from the presses, an estimated 2000 titles during the first year, and "the subsequent rate of increase has been somewhat greater!"2 The figure seems high, but it should help to explain why no one has yet attempted a complete listing of the Northern war songs. The songs of the nation were indeed a "mirror of its virtues as well as its shortcomings,"1 and recounted in graphic detail the story of the war itself. As feelings blazed higher with the approach of war, local interests merged with the national crisis, and music served as stimulation and relief, catharsis and escape. A publisher's catalogue of this time thus could reflect local interests and enthusiasms with some sensitivity. Directed primarily to the local market, these publications were most often works of local musicians or new editions of perennial favorites from the public domain. Every city of any considerable size had a music store that, if successful, usually did a little publishing. EPSTEIN on the eve of the civil war the music trade of the United States was scattered through the country rather than concentrated in a few metropolitan centers. At present she lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children. She has worked at the University of Illinois, the Newark Public Library, and the Music Cataloging Section of the Copyright Office. Epstein, a native of Wisconsin, has degrees m music and library science from the Universities of Chicago and Illinois. ![]() In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:
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