Marching Through Georgia

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For other uses, see Marching Through Georgia (disambiguation).

Marching Through Georgia (sometimes called Marching Thru' Georgia) is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work in 1865, referencing U.S. Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea during the previous year.

It was widely popular with Union Army veterans after the war. However, General Sherman himself despised the song, in part because it was played at almost every public appearance that he attended.[1] Outside of the Southern United States, it had a universal appeal: Japanese troops sang it as they entered Port Arthur, the British sang it in India, and it was popular with the Allies in World War II.

It remains a popular tune for brass bands, and has lent its tune to a number of other popular songs, including The Land, Billy Boys and Come In, Come In. It was also sung by a carpetbagger in Gone with the Wind.

Contents

[edit] Lyrics

Verse 1
Bring the good old bugle, boys, we'll sing another song
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along
Sing it as we used to sing it, 50,000 strong[2]
While we were marching through Georgia.

Chorus
Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the jubilee![3]
Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea
While we were marching through Georgia.

Verse 2
How the darkies shouted when they heard the joyful sound
How the turkeys gobbled which our commisary found
How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground
While we were marching through Georgia.

Verse 3
Yes and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears,
When they saw the honored flag they had not seen for years;
Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers,
While we were marching through Georgia.

Verse 4
"Sherman's dashing Yankee boys will never make the coast!"
So the saucy rebels said and 'twas a handsome boast
Had they not forgot, alas! to reckon with the Host
While we were marching through Georgia.

Verse 5
So we made a thoroughfare for freedom and her train,
Sixty miles of latitude, three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain
While we were marching through Georgia.

[edit] References

  • Eicher, David J., The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War, Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ 5th Michigan Infantry Marching Band website
  2. ^ Sherman's armies in Georgia actually had 62,000 men
  3. ^ A biblical allusion to the freeing of the slaves. See Leviticus 25

[edit] External links

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