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The Civil War
(1861-1865)

Civil War Music

Civil War Music
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.95

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    Camptown, girth, goober, holster, mortality, pocketful, slacken, enlist, battlefield, ultimate, trigger, drummer, regiment, stirs, soul, midst
     content words:    Civil War, Union Side, Union Dixie, Big Yankee, Aura Lea, Camptown Races, Old Kentucky Home, Goober Peas, Johnny Comes Marching Home

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Civil War Music
By Mary L. Bushong 		  
1     What do you think of when you hear music? Some music can make you feel happy. Sometimes it can make you feel sad. Sometimes it makes you want to go out and do things. Music has always been important to people, especially during times of war. Times like the Civil War.
 
2     Men who were going to war sang patriotic songs to remind themselves of why they were fighting. Each side had their own songs they liked to sing. One song, "Always Stand on the Union Side," reminded them that their cause was right.
 
3     
     "Always stand on the Union side,
     And battle for the right.
     With conscience clear, we'll laugh at fear
     In the midst of the boldest fight."
 
4     Sometimes one side would use the song melody of the other army and put their own words to it. "Union Dixie" is an example of this.
 
5     
     "Away down South in the land of traitors,
     Rattlesnakes and alligators,
     Right away, come away, right away, come away.
     Where cotton's king and men are chattels,
     Union boys will win the battles,
     Right away, come away, right away, come away."
 
6     If the Union had their own patriotic songs, so did the Confederacy. "Shiloh's Hill" told about the battle of Shiloh, while "Flight of the Doodles" mocked the courage of Yankee soldiers.
 
7     
     "I come from old Manassas with a pocketful of fun,
     I killed forty Yankees with a single barreled gun;
     It don't make a niff-a-stiff'rence to neither you nor I,
     Big Yankee, little Yankee, all run or die!"
 
8     Songs like "Riding a Raid" encouraged men heading for battle.
 
9     
     "Come tighten your girth and slacken your rein;
     Come buckle your blanket and holster again;
     Try the click of your trigger and balance your blade,
     For he must ride sure that goes riding a raid."

Paragraphs 10 to 16:
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