Lost his bread and butter.
Still the wheels will move, no doubt,
Running on quite gaily,
Doing better far without
That Brummagem Disraeli.
American Paper. January, 1887.
——:o:——
JOHN BROWN’S BODY.
The origin of this celebrated anti-slavery song is obscure and involved. John Brown attempted to incite the negroes to rebel against slavery, and although he did not succeed in this, he, with a few fanatical followers, seized a small fort at Harper’s Ferry. The United States troops attacked them, captured or killed Brown’s followers, and Brown himself was hanged on December 2, 1859. Insignificant as was this episode, it was the warning of the coming storm between North and South, and was the death knell of slavery. “John Brown’s Body” appears to have been first adopted as a marching song by the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Fletcher Webster. The soldiers of this regiment sang it as they marched down Broadway in New York, July 24, 1861, on their way from Boston to the front.
A Radical Song.