"We'll Sing to Abe Our Song": Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War, from the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana

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The lyrics found in We'll Sing to Abe Our Song provide an opportunity to discuss a number of subjects and song styles. Many of these pieces lend themselves both to interpretation and imitation. For example, Union draft songs and campaign pieces use persuasive writing and poetry, while minstrel and other comic songs are examples of creative writing that use of narrative devices such as dialect.

Creative Writing and Satire

"The Patchwork Song" is a tribute from Buckley's Serenaders to R. Bishop Buckley that appears to consist almost entirely of Buckley's song titles: There was "Little Maggie Dale," "Riding in a Railroad Car," "Near the Banks of that Lone River" "I will smoke my last Cigar," "Sing to me those dear Old Songs," "When the Swallows Homeward fly," "I'll be no submissive wife," "Mother, I've come home to die,"

Cover of "The Patchwork Song."

• What are the Serenaders trying to suggest about Buckley's songs by creating "The Patchwork Song" out of Buckley's song titles?
• What does the introduction to this song suggest about its meaning? For example, it refers to Buckley's songs as "The Songs of the day," adding, "Of the words of the songs, I have not time to tell,/ But the names of them all I remember quite well." What could this mean?

This song can serve as the basis for a tribute or satire of contemporary pop songs. What might you want to say about pop songs? How can you express an idea in a song? Is using titles from pop songs as in "The Patchwork Song" a good way to convey your ideas? How else might you convey them? How can you use other elements of a song, such as the melody, the rhythm, or the lyrics?

Creative Writing and Metaphor

Persuasive Writing

Cover of "Will You Ever Give the Colored Race a Show."

Lincoln issued the proclamation in eighteen sixty three, And this is our own birthplace, that you know; We've fought hard to save the country, since we gained our liberty, Will you ever give the colored race a show? What are the potential benefits of placing an argument within a song? Who will the argument reach as a song? Who is the audience? What are the potential hazards of using a song? Are there any contemporary examples of this form of persuasive writing?

Historic Ballads

The collection includes ballads inspired by historic events such as Mary Todd Lincoln's alleged final words to her dying husband in "Live But One Moment" and her desire to bring her youngest son close to President Lincoln one last time in "Little Tad."

John Wilkes Booth's flight from Ford's Theatre is imagined in "The Assassin's Vision":

The Assassin rode on his fiery steed, His murd'rous work was done-- In the darksome night with fleeting speed, Through woods his courser run! As he hurried away from the scene of death, On his brow were looks of despair; Before him! around him! The evening's breath Told him God's vengeance was there!

Cover Image from "The Assassin's Vision."

• Why do these events lend themselves to dramatic interpretation?
• What liberties (or poetic license) did the songwriters take in depicting these scenes?
• How does the structure (meter, rhyme scheme, etc.) contribute to the story?
• Choose a historic event and dramatize it as a ballad.

Personification and Symbolism

From Cover of "Old Abe the Battle Eagle."

The terror of traitors and king of the sky. Hurrah! for our eagle! our bold battle eagle! The terror of traitors and king of the sky. His nostrils have scented the sulphurous breath Of the boiling caldron of battle and death; His broad wings spread in the wavering fight, And his screams rang out with a fierce delight, When the ranks of the traitors were turned to fly, Like the fabled trumpet of victory.

• Why does the eagle appear on a Union battle flag?
• What is the significance of naming the eagle "Old Abe"?
• What does the eagle suggest about the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment's thoughts and feelings about their participation in the war?
• What adjectives are used to describe the eagle in these lyrics?
• What does the claim that the eagle was equally at danger as the troops add to the meaning of the eagle as a symbol?
• What actions are assigned to the eagle in the lyrics? What significance do these songs add to the symbolism?
• A search on flag yields a number of other Union war songs. How do these compare to "Old Abe the Battle Eagle"?
• Why is the flag such a popular Union symbol? What does it usually represent?

Allegory

When "Uncle Abe" took a four years lease of "Uncle Sam's Farm," he found a host of rebellious boys on the trees stealing apples,
Seeing the injury they were doing, he most respectfully requested them to come down;
Upon hearing his solicitation, the saucy blockheads told him plainly they would not.

An allegory is an extended metaphor, a story in which fictionalized characters and events stand for other people, things, events, or ideas.

• Who might the "rebellious boys" in this story stand for?
• What is the purpose of this allegory?
• Why would someone choose to express ideas and opinions through an allegory?
• What is the tone of this allegory? Does it compliment the subject matter symbolized in the story? Why would the writer use such a tone with this subject matter?
• What historical events are the real subject of this allegory?