John Brown's Body uses the melody of the folk tune Say Brothers will you meet us which originated from the American Frontier somwhere in the 1700s and 1800s. In 1861 with the outbreak of the Civil War several versions of the poem were written. The one used here was allegedly written in 1861 by William Weston Patton. John Brody was a deeply religious man who saw no peaceful end to slavery. Inspired by the Old Testament and believing being chosen for this by God he fought in Bleeding Kansas against southern, pro-slavery, settlers. In 1859 he executed his long awaited and planned attack on Harper's Ferry with about 20 comrades. By this he hoped to distribute weapons from the arsenal there to slaves to incite a huge slave rebellion. He was pinned down by local militias and finally captured by Robert E. Lee. After a show trial he was hanged. Still as a devout believer he wasn't sad. Other abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglas realized, that slavery would have to end in blodshed.
The used lyrics are
Old John Brown's body lies moldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.
John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;
Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.
He captured Harper's Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,
And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled thru and thru;
They hung him for a traitor, they themselves the traitor crew,
But his soul is marching on.
John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon thruout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,
For his soul is marching on.
The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.
And heaven shall ring with anthems o'er the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.
Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,
And his soul is marching on.
17 окт 2024
