1863 was such a turning point in the times of our American Civil War.
The newspapers were filled with reports of battles won and lost.
Stones River helped advance the capture of Western Tennessee
Chancelorville, Va. produced the loss of Stonewall Jackson / April
Siege of Vicksburg , Ms,
Gettysburg
Chickamauga
I have to include the battles of Campbell Station and Fort Sanders, and Bean Station.
Two years before these battles, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s personal peace was shaken when his second wife of 18 years, to whom he was very devoted, was tragically burned in a fire. Then in 1863, Longfellow’s oldest son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father’s blessing. Longfellow was informed by a letter dated March 14, 1863, after Charles had left. “I have tried hard to resist the temptation of going without your leave but I cannot any longer”, he wrote. “I feel it to be my first duty to do what I can for my country and I would willingly lay down my life for it if it would be of any good”.[2] Charles soon got an appointment as a lieutenant but, in November, he was severely wounded[3] (in Virginia). Charles eventually recovered, but his time as a soldier was finished.
Longfellow first wrote the poem on Christmas Day in 1863.[4] “Christmas Bells” was first published in February 1865. References to the Civil War are prevalent in some of the verses that were not sung by Burl Ives, who turned the song into a popular Christmas Song. .
The following are the original words of Longfellow’s poem:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet, The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom.
Had rolled along, The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound, The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong, And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
I was taught this poem in High School, listened to Burl Ives sing the tune and did not put them together.
Now, at Christmas time, I think of the men at Valley Forge.
Lts. Lee and Grant serving their country in Mexico, years before the Civil War,
Our soldiers marching through the cold as prisoners of war in Germany 1944, and in North Korea in 1950.
The Right will not prevail in the future, without our soldiers, at home or away. Merry Christmas to our soldiers and our veterans, and Thank You!
