John William Steffe (1830–1890/1911) was a South-Carolina born, Philadelphia, PA, bookkeeper and insurance agent who is credited with collecting and editing the musical tune for a camp-meeting song with the traditional “Glory Hallelujah” refrain, in about 1856, which opened with “Say, brothers, will you meet us on Canaan’s happy shore?” and with its infectious swing became widely known. Steffe was born in 1830 in South Carolina. Moving to Philadelphia, PA, he claimed to have composed a tune in 1855 or 1856 with the words, “Say, bummers, will you meet us,” also with the traditional “Glory Hallelujah” refrain, for the Goodwill Fire Company of Philadelphia, PA, whose members were known as “Bummers.” However, it appears that Steffe simply adapted the music to the words that he penned for the firemen. According to Louis Elson in National Music of America, it was known in the South long before the Civil War, perhaps originating in South Carolina. Most experts regard it as a nineteenth century American folk melody dating at least 1851 or 1852, when it was used as a camp meeting song, and maybe as early as 1820.
Early in the American Civil War, this tune was used to create the Union army marching song “John Brown’s Body,” which begins with the lyrics “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on.” A regiment stationed in Boston included a soldier named John Brown. This regiment using Steffe’s tune sang about the fiery John Brown of Kansas who shortly before had made his stand against slavery, but directed it as a jest toward their contemporary John Brown. This version soon became popular among the Union troops. In December of 1861, eighteen months after the American Civil War had begun, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, her husband, and their minister, James Freeman Clarke, all of Boston, were visiting Washington, DC, with Gov. Andrews of Massachusetts and his wife. They were invited to watch a military review at a Union Army camp on the Potomac River some distance from the city where they heard the federal troops singing, “John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in the grave.” The visitors noted the stirring character of the music, and Clarke suggested that Mrs. Howe could pen better lyrics for the melody.
During that night, Mrs. Howe she went back to the Hotel Willard in Washington and, using the tune as the basis, wrote the new words for Steffe’s music, now known as “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The poem was completed before daybreak, and she showed it to Clarke the next day. When she returned to Boston, Mrs.Howe also showed it to James T. FIelds, editor of the Atlantic Monthly, who published it in the Feb., 1862, edition under the title “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The tune was first printed with Howe’s text in the 1862 Aeolian Harp Collection edited by John Dadman. It attracted little attention until Chaplain C. C. McCabe, who later became a Methodist bishop, heard it and taught it to the 122nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. From there it spread to other troops and quickly came into use throughout the North as an expression of the patriotic emotion of the period. In this way the words by Mrs. Howe of Boston, sung to the tune by the Southerner, William Steffe, became synonymous with the Union cause. Steffe, who is generally remembered as the composer of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, is said to have died in either 1890 or 1911.
The following work by William Steffe is contained in my collection:
The Battle Hymn of the Republic (c. 1855)
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