SONGS USED FROM CD: Additional Information is available on the CD liner notes, accessible from this site.

Disc 1

·         Song # 4:The Battle of Fort Donelson

This piece features a poem written on July 4, 1862 by W.E. Maurey, a soldier with the 49th Tennessee Infantry.  Maurey was captured and taken prisoner at Fort Donelson in 1862. The poem provides vivid imagery of some of the chaotic events during the first major victory for the North during the Civil War, including, in this battle, the unfurling of the white surrender flag.

 

 

·         Song #11: The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” was composed and written by William S. Hays (1837-1907) in 1863. Although the song never mentions the name of a specific drummer boy, the name Johnny Clem became associated with the song. However, although Clem was a young drummer in the Civil War, his unit, the 22nd Michigan Infantry, would not be mustered into service until August 1862, after the April 1862 Battle. T

 

 

Disc 2

·         Song #5: Shiloh: A Requiem

Written by Herman Melville and included in his 1866 Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, which takes a somewhat chronological look at the American Civil War from John Brown’s hanging to Reconstruction. Contemporaries praised Battle-Pieces for its inclusion of both Northern and Southern perspectives of the war.

 

·         Song # 6: ‘Twas at the Siege of Vicksburg

“Twas at the Siege of Vicksburg” was set to the melody of “Listen to the Mocking Bird,” a popular song written in 1855. “’Twas at the Siege of Vicksburg” incorporates new lyrics which portray the final military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Tim Kavanaugh, a park ranger at Vicksburg National Military Park, reports that the rewritten lyrics of this song are suspected to have happened at the siege itself.

 

·         Song #8: Stories From da Dirt III

This piece tells the historic drama of former enslaved Africans escaping to Fort Donelson, after it was taken over by Union forces in 1862. It includes coded songs with dual meanings that signify resistance to bondage, plans for escape and hopes for freedom. Marybeth Hamilton, in her book In Search of the Blues, writes that the song Run, Brother, Run depicted “comic misadventures of escapees attempting to elude the slave patrols”. The spirituals “Steal Away” and “The Gospel Train” are well known for their multiple interpretations.