Julia Ward Howe, a Unitarian, was born May 27, 1819, in New York but live later in Boston. She was a pioneer in women’s right and the abolition of slavery, a poet as well as a campaigner for prison reform and world peace. She preached occasionally in Unitarian Churches. In 1848 she married S. G. Howe, who had similar ideas and interests. Julia Howe wrote several books and collections of verse. She died October 17, 1910, at Newport, Rhode Island. In the April 1976 issue (official organ of the Hymn Society of America) T. J. Trimborn tells this story of how the hymn came to be written:

“On November 20, 1861, one of many Union troop reviews held during the Civil War took place at Baileys Crossroads, Virginia, a short distance from Washington. President Abraham Lincoln, Cabinet officers, diplomats, other dignitaries with their wives and families, and 25,000 spectators were in attendance to review the assembled regiments. .

“That night one of the multitude of spectators did not sleep well, and in her reminiscences wrote why. ‘On the return from the review of troops near the city, to beguile the rather tedious drive we sang from time to time snatches of the army songs so popular at that time, concluding I think with “John Brown’s Body” [a song about a militant abolitionist hanged in Charles Town for his fight against slavery].’ The Reverend James Clarke, who had accompanied the woman and her husband that day, suggested that she write some words more suitable for the stirring tune. And so it was that that night this chance remark kept coming back to her mind. Finally she arose from bed, found in the dimness an old stump of a pen, and without hesitation scrawled several verses almost without looking at the paper. Julia Ward Howe had realized the inspiration for a song-music which would later touch President Lincoln deeply and stir the hearts of a whole people to become not merely a timely melody but a national musical treasure.’

In 1864 President Lincoln attended the second anniversary meeting of the Christian Commission (a volunteer organization that gathered food and supplies for and gave medical help to combat soldiers), held in the House of Representatives. After many speeches, the “singing Methodist chaplain,” Charles C. McCabe, told a chilling account of his capture and imprisonment in the Confederate Libby Prison at Richmond, Virginia, and closed by singing this song, which he had taught to the other prisoners; “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” When he got to the chorus, “Glory! glory! Hallelujah!” the entire audience and band joined in. Before the last notes died away, a voice was heard; “Sing it again!” It was the voice of none other than President Lincoln. “The Battle Hymn” was duly repeated with great fervor, Mr. Lincoln standing, his voice raised in song, tears streaming down his cheeks, obviously very moved.

The tune BATTLE HYMN, so named for its use by the Yankee soldiers in the Civil War, was in constant use for a number of texts long before the Civil War, including the camp meeting song, “Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us.” It has been claimed by William Steffe, organist and choirmaster of camp meeting festivals, who probably borrowed it from an earlier secular song melody composed by a Philadelphia musician.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.