United States Civil War

The Civil War; The War Between the States

The War of the Rebellion; War of Northern Aggression.

Main Essay on the war. Fratricide. The causes of the war were manifold. It was fought to preserve the Union. To preserve states rights. To end slavery. To defend Constitutional Principal. Yes all four. The constitutional question was not settled in 1861. It was settled on the battlefield. Constitutional principals all too often are settled in a sanguinary manner. And, at least after 1865, the states do not have the right to secede.

The Vacant Chair, George F. Root, H. S. Washburn

Verse:

When a year ago we gathered,

Joy was in his mild blue eye,

But a golden chord is severed,

And our hopes in ruin lie.

Chorus:

We will meet, but we will miss him,

There will be his vacant chair,

We will linger to caress him

While we breathe our evening prayer.

At our fireside, sad and lonely,

Often will the bosom swell

At remembrance of the story,

How our noble Willie fell;

How he strove to bear our banner

Through the thickest of the fight;

And uphold our country's honor,

In the strength of manhood's fight.

True, they tell us wreaths of glory

Ever more will deck his brow,

But this soothes the anguish only,

Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now.

Sleep today, Oh early fallen,

In thy green and narrow bed.

Dirges from the pine and cypress

Mingle with the tears we shed.

The subject of the song, “Our noble Willie,” refers to Lieutenant John William Grout of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteers, killed at the battle of Balls Bluff Virginia in 1861. As the nation’s memorialized its dead, gave thanks and grieved at its first Thanksgiving, the original poem by Washburn was set to music by Root, one of the most prolific songwriters of the period.