Now slumb’ring in their graves!
How many homes made desolate?
How many hearts have sighed?
|: How many, like that drummer boy,
Who prayed before they died. :|
Samuel J. Muscroft’s play The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, written in 1870, was apparently based upon “what might have been” rather than facts. The play—a pleasing mixture of drama, pathos, and comedy—was staged in cities and towns all over the Northern States for almost 40 years. It was ordinarily staged as a home-town production rather than by professional actors and actresses—a factor which tended to increase its popularity. In fact, contemporary accounts say that the play was second in popularity only to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Numerous poems about Shiloh were of immediate, if not lasting, popularity. Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick and Typee, attracted by the multitude of inviting subjects presented by the Civil War, turned to Shiloh for inspiration. “Shiloh,” published 4 years after the battle, is one of his most famous poems of the War Between the States era.
“The Men of the West” by Richard Coe; “Our Boys who Fell at Shiloh” and “General Albert Sidney Johnston” by H. Pleasants McDaniel; and “The Old Sergeant” by Forceythe Willson are typical examples of the trend in poetry immediately following Shiloh.
Song writers of the period also looked to Shiloh for the themes of their melodies. The most successful endeavor in this field was made by Will S. Hays in “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh.” Like the play by that name, the song is undoubtedly based upon fancy rather than facts. The title was chosen because of its certain musical quality and not because of its connection with any incident of the engagement. Hays, a correspondent of the Louisville Democrat, wrote the song in 1862 while the story of the battle was still news rather than history. It is not known whether he was at the battle of Shiloh or whether his sympathies were with the North or the South. However, his song immediately became famous throughout the country and remained popular for a number of years.
The song and the play, “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh,” may possibly be credited with the creation, or at least the perpetuation, of the popular legend about “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh.” After the publication of these works several claimants to the title came to the fore. Needless to say, these men had not been killed at the battle, but each maintained that his presence at the engagement as a youthful drummer had inspired the authors. From time to time, as years passed, newspapers in widely scattered sections of the country announced “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh Dies.” A recent study by Ray H. Mattison, former historian at Shiloh National Military Park, proved that many of the claimants were ineligible for the designation. In the final analysis, John Clem, “The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga,” was found to have the strongest claim to the Shiloh title.