“Battle Hymn of the Republic”

Cultural  

1. An American patriotic hymn from the Civil War by Julia Ward Howe, who wrote it after a visit to an encampment of the Union army. The tune is that of “John Brown's Body.”

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Example Sentences

On September 3, Steinbeck’s wife Carol came up with the title “The Grapes of Wrath,” an allusion to Revelations 14:19–20 and a verse from “Battle Hymn of the Republic” by Julia Ward Howe.

From Salon • Oct. 15, 2024

Meanwhile, a funeral train with Kennedy’s body headed to Washington, with people lining the tracks and some singing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” as the cars rolled past.

From Washington Post • Nov. 10, 2022

He was playing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” on repeat.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2022

The choir became a commercial and critical success when, in 1959, its rendition of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” reached No. 13 on the Billboard Top 40 and won a Grammy the next year.

From Slate • Jan. 19, 2017

Mrs. Howe gave it a poem that made its rusticity sublime, and the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” began a career that promises to run till battle hymns cease to be sung.

From The Story of the Hymns and Tunes by Brown, Theron