Exploring the Union and Confederate Armies Through Song

A great general resource on the web is PBS Teachers. Easily searchable, resources are broken down by grade, subject, and topics. It seems that PBS strives to make their resources interdisciplinary and tie in with different media sources. One example uses the Ken Burns’ film, The Civil War, to explore the music of the period. Michael Hutchinson wrote Civil War Music (.pdf available here) to be taught in conjunction with the film, but does not necessarily require the film itself.

Civil War Music is a straight forward look into the songs and “battle hymns” popular at the time of the Civil War. Aimed at students from grades 7-12, the lesson explores two Confederate and two Union songs. In addition, Hutchinson offers a handful of follow up and extension activities, a possible way to round out the lesson if necessary. The subject is potentially interesting for a wide range of students as music, and the feelings associated with music, could be seen as universal.

Written in 2002, the resources linked to lyrics and MIDI files no longer work, though YouTube has versions of all four songs and lyrics can be found easily through a Google search. For ease, examples are linked here. “Battle Cry of Freedom (Union)” (lyrics, music); “Battle Cry of Freedom (Confederate)” (lyrics, music); “Dixie’s Land” (lyrics, music); and “Union Dixie” (lyrics, music).