Marching Through Georgia

{{Multiple image

| direction = horizontal

| total_width =

| image1 = Henry Clay Work, 1884 (alternate version).png

| caption1 = Unionist composer Henry Clay Work who wrote "Marching Through Georgia" and many other patriotic songs

| image2 =

| caption2 =

| align = right

| caption_align = center

| alt1 = Henry Clay Work portrait

}}

Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) was a printer by trade. However, his true passion rested in songwriting, which he had cultivated a deep penchant for as a child.{{Multiref|Birdseye, "America's Song Composers", 284–285|Ewen, Popular American Composers, 188|Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 215–216|Howard, Our American Music, 267}} He published a complete song for the first time in 1853.{{Multiref|Birdseye, "America's Song Composers", 285|Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 213, 216}} Eight years later, the American Civil War broke out,{{Multiref|Carder, George F. Root, 101|Eicher, The Longest Night, 34}} launching his songwriting ventures into a fecund career.Sadie & Tyrrell, New Grove Dictionary, 568 Work promptly applied for a songwriting post at the then-most popular publishing firm, Root & Cady, situated in Chicago.{{Multiref|Carder, George F. Root, 101|Epstein, "Music Publishing in Chicago", 43|Sadie & Tyrrell, New Grove Dictionary, 568|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 425}} Its director George F. Root was impressed by his song submission "Kingdom Coming" and assigned him the post.{{Multiref|Carder, George F. Root, 122, 124|Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 216|Root, Story of a Musical Life, 137–138|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 425}}

Music was of utmost importance in the Civil War;{{Multiref|Kelley & Snell, Bugle Resounding, 21|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 15|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 7–8}} journalist Irwin Silber comments: "soldiers and civilians of the Union states were inspired and propagandized by a host of patriotic songs."quoted in Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 7 Work, a Northerner, delivered, penning 25 pro-Union songs from 1861 to 1865.{{Multiref|Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 213–214|Kelley & Snell, Bugle Resounding, 21|Howard, Our American Music, 266|Work, Songs, table of contents}} Their "intense partisanship" is owed to Work's devout allegiance to the Union cause, itself rooted in his abolitionist background.{{Multiref|quoted in Howard, Our American Music, 267|Carder, George F. Root, 114|McCray, "About Henry Clay Work", 10|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 146}} As a child, he passed much time among escaped slaves in the Underground Railroad,{{Refn|This was the network for slaves to flee from the South and be safely transferred to Northern states or Canada, where slavery was prohibited.Warren, "Underground Railroad"|group=lower-alpha}} above which his family home was situated. The young Work soon came to despise slavery.{{Multiref|Carder, George F. Root, 114|Ewen, Popular American Composers, 188|Lowden, "Stories of Old Home Songs", 9|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 306}} His wartime compositions impart this sentiment.

Work has been commended for communicating the feelings of Union civilians through music.{{Multiref|Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 211|McCray, "About Henry Clay Work", 10|Spaeth, History of Popular Music in America, 156}} The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians notes: "More than perhaps any other songwriter Work captured the deeply felt emotions of the Civil War [...]."quoted in Sadie & Tyrrell, New Grove Dictionary, 568 For instance, the minstrel tune "Kingdom Coming" accompanied enthusiastic African-American troops marching down South{{Multiref|Birdseye, "America's Song Composers", 288|McCray, "About Henry Clay Work", 10|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 146–147|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 306}} and "The Song of a Thousand Years" consoled distraught civilians during the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania.Spaeth, History of Popular Music, 156 This sense of sympathy for civilian struggles, along with his mastery of melody{{Multiref|Ewen, Popular American Composers, 188|Root, Story of a Musical Life, 137, 139|Spaeth, History of Popular Music, 155}} fueled one of the most successful songwriting careers of the war.{{Multiref|Birdseye, "America's Song Composers", 284–285|Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 211|Kelley & Snell, Bugle Resounding, 119|Sadie & Tyrrell, New Grove Dictionary, 568}}

"Marching Through Georgia" marked the apex of Work's career up to that point.{{Multiref|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 16|Spaeth, History of Popular Music, 156|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 426}} Released on January 9, 1865,{{Multiref|Erbsen, Rousing Songs, 51|Hill, "The Mysterious Chord", 214}} it commemorates the March to the Sea, a momentous Union triumph that took place a few weeks prior. The song is dedicated to the campaign's mastermind, Major General William T. Sherman.{{Multiref|Carder, George F. Root, 153|Eicher, The Longest Night, 763|Lowden, "Stories of Old Home Songs", 9|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 426}} While other contemporary songs honored the march, such as H. M. Higgins's "General Sherman and His Boys in Blue" and S. T. Gordon's "Sherman's March to the Sea", Work's composition remains the best known.{{Multiref|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169–170|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 16, 238}} The term "March to Sea" itself originated from another musical composition, S. H. M. Byers' "Sherman's March to the Sea".Lyftogt, "Byers, Samuel Hawkins Marshall"

{{more|Sherman's March to the Sea}}

{{Multiple image

| direction = vertical

| total_width = 300

| image1 = Savannah Campaign.png

| caption1 = Map of the March to the Sea, lasting from November 15 to December 21, 1864

| image2 = F.O.C. Darley and Alexander Hay Ritchie - Sherman's March to the Sea.jpg

| caption2 = 1868 engraving depicting the march's impact on Georgian civilians and territory by Alexander Hay Ritchie

| align = right

| caption_align = center

| alt1 = March to the Sea map

| alt2 = March to the Sea engraving

}}

By September 1864 the Union looked set to win the war. Following three years of a bloody stalemate,Kennedy, Civil War Battlefield Guide, 343 Sherman's capture of Atlanta, a pivotal Southern city, proved a deliverance for the Northern cause.{{Multiref|Davis, "Atlanta Campaign"|Hattaway, How the North Won, 624–625, 668}} Sherman then eyed the coastal city of Savannah which, if captured, would split the Confederacy in half. In late September the plan was finalized and Major General Ulysses S. Grant eventually gave his assent.{{Multiref|Bailey, "Sherman's March to the Sea" § Preparation|Hattaway, How the North Won, 634, 638|Rhodes, "Sherman's March to the Sea", 466}}

On November 15, 62,000 Union troops left Atlanta and commenced the March to the Sea.{{Multiref|Bailey, "Sherman's March to the Sea" § The March|Eicher, The Longest Night, 763|Hattaway, How the North Won, 642}} The South was caught off guard and never managed to muster effective resistance. As such, progress was smooth and nigh undisturbed.{{Multiref|Eicher, The Longest Night, 763|Hattaway, How the North Won, 647|Rhodes, "Sherman's March to the Sea", 469}} Sherman recalls in his memoirs: "[Maj. Gen. Hardee, his main rival, had] not forced us to use anything but a skirmish-line, though at several points he had erected fortifications and tried to alarm us by bombastic threats."quoted in Sherman, Memoirs, 210 After a series of minor skirmishes and just two notable engagements, at Griswoldville and Fort McAllister, the Union army moved into Savannah on December 21. This ended the March to the Sea.{{Multiref|Bailey, "Sherman's March to the Sea" § Military Encounters|Eicher, The Longest Night, 765–768|Hattaway, How the North Won, 642, 648, 654|Marzalek, "Sherman's March to the Sea"}} Five months later, the war's Western theater closed.{{Multiref|Eicher, The Longest Night, 793–802, 831|Hattaway, How the North Won, 656–657, 669}}

The march bore two immediate impacts on the South. Firstly, troops left destruction and paucity in their tracks as they scavenged the land for food and resources and laid waste to public buildings and infrastructure.{{Multiref|Bailey, "Sherman's March to the Sea" § Consequences of the March|Eicher, The Longest Night, 768|Hattaway, How the North Won, 642|Rhodes, "Sherman's March to the Sea", 471–472}} This fit Sherman's strategy—to persuade Southerners that the war was not worth supporting anymore.{{Multiref|Hattaway, How the North Won, 641–642|Rhodes, "Sherman's March to the Sea", 470}} Secondly, it inspirited Southern slaves to flee to freedom. Over 14,000 joined Sherman's troops in Georgia with brisk enthusiasm once they passed near their native plantation, cementing the campaign as a milestone of emancipation.{{Multiref|Drago, "How Sherman's March Affected the Slaves", 362–363|Marzalek, "Sherman's March to the Sea"|Rhodes, "Sherman's March to the Sea", 473}}

Author David J. Eicher writes of the March to the Sea: "Sherman had accomplished an amazing task. He had defied military principles by operating deep within enemy territory and without lines of supply or communication. He had destroyed the South's potential and psychology to wage war."quoted in Eicher, The Longest Night, 768 A pioneering use of psychological warfare and total war, the destruction wrought by Sherman's troops terrorized the South. Civilians whose territory and resources was being ravaged before their eyes grew so appalled at the conflict that their will to fight on dissipated, as Sherman had intended.{{Multiref|Bailey, "Sherman's March to the Sea" § Consequences of the March|Eicher, The Longest Night, 768|Hattaway, How the North Won, 642|Merzalek, "Sherman's March to the Sea"}} The march further crippled the Southern economy, incurring losses of approximately $100 million.{{Multiref|Rhodes, "Sherman's March to the Sea", 472|Sellers, "Economic Incidence of the Civil War", 179}}{{Refn|Roughly equating to $2 billion as of 2025.|group=lower-alpha}} In historian Herman Hattaway's words, it "[knocked] the Confederate war effort to pieces."{{Multiref|quoted in Hattaway, How the North Won, 655|see also: Rhodes, "Sherman's March to the Sea", 471}}

{{Quote box

| title = Original lyrics{{Multiref|Work, Songs, 18–20|Erbsen, Rousing Songs, 52 |McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 164 |Tome, "Marching Through Georgia"}}

| quote =

Bring the good old bugle boys! we'll sing another song,

Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along;

Sing it as we used to sing it fifty thousand strong,

While we were marching through Georgia.

CHORUS

"Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee!

Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!"

So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,

While we were marching through Georgia.

{{hidden begin|contentstyle=margin|ta2=center|fontsize=88%}}

How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound!

How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found!

How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground,

While we were marching through Georgia.

(CHORUS)

Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears,

When they saw the honor'd flag they had not seen for years;

Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers,

While we were marching through Georgia.

(CHORUS)

"Sherman's dashing Yankee boys will never reach the coast!"

So the saucy rebels said, and 'twas a handsome boast,

Had they not forgotten, alas! to reckon with the host,

While we were marching through Georgia.

(CHORUS)

So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,

Sixty miles in latitude—three hundred to the main;

Treason fled before us for resistance was in vain,

While we were marching through Georgia.

(CHORUS)

{{hidden end}}

| source = Henry Clay Work

| align = right

| width = 40%

| border = 1px

| fontsize = 85%

| bgcolor = #fdfad5

| title_bg = #fad198

| qalign = center

| salign = right

}}

"Marching Through Georgia" is chanted from a Union soldier's point of view. He had taken part in the March to the Sea and now recounts the campaign's triumphs and their ruinous repercussions on the Confederacy.{{Multiref|Carder, George F. Root, 153|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169}} The song comprises five stanzas and a refrain—the verse–chorus structure Work helped pioneer.Sadie & Tyrrell, New Grove Dictionary, 568 File:"Marching Through Georgia" by Henry C. Work – sung by Harlan & Stanley (1904).ogg & Stanley in 1904.|370x377px]]The first stanza commences with a rallying cry for Sherman's troops.Tome, "Marching Through Georgia" Curiously, it underrepresents their number as 50,000; in fact, over 60,000 took part in the march.Eicher, The Longest Night, 763 The chorus alludes to the Jubilee in biblical antiquity, a semicentennial rite freeing certain servants from bondage after 49 years of toil. In the Civil War context, the allusion symbolizes the end of African-American servitude and the advent of a new life of freedom;McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169 this metaphor also features in Work's 1862 piece "Kingdom Coming".Finson, The Voices That Are Gone, 210–211 The second stanza extends the theme of emancipation: "How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound!"Work, Songs, 18

A retelling of Southern Unionists' celebration of the Northern troops defines the third stanza; they "[weep] with joyful tears / When they [see] the honor'd flag they had not seen for years."Work, Songs, 18–19 Work's mastery of the comic genre, also reflected in "Kingdom Coming",Carder, George F. Root, 114 is imbued in the fourth and fifth stanzas, where the Confederates who had scoffed at Sherman's campaign now see their worst wishes come to light. The final stanza celebrates the success of the march, after which "treason fled before [the Union troops] for resistance was in vain".Work, Songs, 19

Historian Christian McWhirter evaluates the song's lyrical and thematic framework:

{{Blockquote|text=On the surface, it celebrated Sherman's campaign from Atlanta to Savannah; but it also told listeners how to interpret Union victory. Speaking as a white soldier, Work turned the targeting of Confederate civilian property into a celebration of unionism and emancipation. Instead of destroyers, Union soldiers became deliverers for slaves and southern unionists. Georgia was not left in ruins but was converted into 'a thoroughfare for freedom.'quoted in McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169}}

"Marching Through Georgia" is in common time in the key of B♭ major. It commences with a four-bar introduction which follows a chord progression of B♭–E♭–B♭–F⁷–B♭. Each verse and chorus is eight bars long. A soloist is intended to sing the individual stanzas, and a joint SATB choir accompanies the solo voice for the chorus. Work does not write any expression markings or dynamics throughout the song, bar a fortissimo marking at the start of the chorus. The original sheet music provides a piano accompaniment to be performed during the song.Work, Songs, 18–20

Like much of Work's wartime catalog, "Marching Through Georgia" captures contemporary attitudes among Northern civilians—in this case, jubilation over Sherman's fruitful campaign. It fulfilled their demand for a celebratory patriotic hymn. Accordingly, the song imparts passionate patriotism and American pride,Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 4 such that it "rubbed Yankee salt into one of the sorest wounds of the Civil War," in musicologist Sigmund Spaeth's words.{{Multiref|quoted in Spaeth, History of Popular Music, 157|see also: Howard, Our American Music, 266|see also: Spaeth, History of Popular Music, 156}} Numerous writers correlate this patriotism with Work's background in an abolitionist family.{{Multiref|Carder, George F. Root, 114|Howard, Our American Music, 267|Lowden, "Stories of Old Home Songs", 9}}

"Marching Through Georgia" was one of the few wartime compositions to outlast the conflict.{{Multiref|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 16}} Civilians had grown tired of war, mirrored by the short-lasting fame of "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!", an anthem known to the entire Union that nonetheless left the spotlight after 1865.{{Multiref|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169|Root, Story of a Musical Life, 151–152}} In his autobiography published 26 years after Work drafted the song, George F. Root explains its unique postbellum popularity:

{{Blockquote|text=[It] is more played and sung at the present time than any other song of the war. This is not only on account of the intrinsic merit of its words and music, but because it is retrospective. Other war songs, "The Battle Cry of Freedom" for example, were for exciting the patriotic feeling on going in to the war or the battle; "Marching Through Georgia" is a glorious remembrance on coming triumphantly out, and so has been more appropriate to soldiers' and other gatherings ever since.quoted in Root, Story of a Musical Life, 138}}To soldiers, Work's piece was the "only [one] which [...] thoroughly expressed their triumphant enthusiasm."quoted in McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 169

{{Multiple image

| total_width =

| image1 = William Tecumseh Sherman.jpg

| caption1 = Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, to whom "Marching Through Georgia" is dedicated

| caption_align = center

| alt1 = William T. Sherman portrait

}}

"Marching Through Georgia" quickly cemented itself as a Civil War icon. Selling 500,000 copies of sheet music within 12 years, it became one of the most successful wartime tunes and Work's most profitable hit up to that point.{{Multiref|McWhirter, Battle Hymns, 17, 169|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 4, 7|Tome, "Marching Through Georgia"|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 423}} Music biographer David Ewen regards it as "the greatest of his war songs,"quoted in Ewen, Popular American Composers, 188 and Carl S. Lowden deems it his very best work, in part owing to its "soul-stirring" production and longevity.quoted in Lowden, "Stories of Old Home Songs", 9

Writer Edwin Tribble opines that Work's postbellum fame, the little he had, rested solely on the success of "Marching Through Georgia",Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 423, 426 citing a letter he wrote to his long-time correspondent Susie Mitchell: "It is really surprising that I have excited so much curiosity and interest here [at an annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)], not only among romantic young women but among all classes. My connection with 'Marching Through Georgia' seems to be the cause."{{Multiref|quoted in Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 428|see also: Kelley & Snell, Bugle Resounding, 119}} In fact, starting from the 1880s, the song predominated Northern veteran gatherings.Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 428

Sherman himself came to loathe "Marching Through Georgia" because of its ubiquity in the North, being performed at every public function he attended. When he reviewed the national encampment of the GAR in 1890, the hundreds of bands present played the tune every time they passed him for an unbroken seven hours.{{Multiref|Eicher, The Longest Night, 763|Erbsen, Rousing Songs, 51|Lowden, "Stories of Old Home Songs", 9|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 428}} Eyewitnesses claim that "his patience collapsed and he declared that he would never again attend another encampment until every band in the United States had signed an agreement not to play 'Marching Though Georgia' in his presence."quoted in Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 428 Sherman maintained his promise for all his life. However, the song was played at his funeral.{{Multiref|Erbsen, Rousing Songs, 51|Ivey, "War Is Marching Our Way"}}

"Marching Through Georgia" does not share the same popularity in the nation's other half. Irwin Silber deems it the most despised Unionist song in the South owing to it evoking a devastated Georgia at the hands of Sherman's frantic army.{{Multiref|Silber, Songs of the Civil War, 16|see also: Spaeth, History of Popular Music, 156}}

Accordingly, Sigmund Spaeth explicitly advises readers not to sing or play Work's composition to a Southerner. Two incidents—both at a Democratic National Convention—exemplify Georgia's contempt for the song. In the 1908 convention, Georgia was one of the few states not to send its delegates to the eventual victor William Jennings Bryan;Steinle, "Shall the People Rule?" the band insultingly played "Marching Through Georgia" to express the convention's disapproval.{{Multiref|Dolan, "News and Views", 13|Watson, "Editorial Notes", 12}} A similar incident sparked in 1924. When tasked to play a fitting song for the Georgia delegation, the convention's band broke into Work's piece; music historian John Tasker Howard remarks: "[...] when the misguided leader, stronger on geography than history, swung into Marching Through Georgia, he was greeted by a silence that turned into hisses and boos noisier than the applause he had heard before."{{Multiref|quoted in Howard, Our American Music, 267|see also: Howard, Our American Music, 266}}

"Marching Through Georgia" is a staple of marching bands. While quintessentially American, it has been performed by armed forces across the world.{{Multiref|Tome, "Marching Through Georgia"|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 423}} Japanese troops sang it as they entered Port Arthur at the Russo–Japanese War's onset.{{Multiref|Eicher, The Longest Night, 763|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 423}} British troops stationed in India periodically chanted it. The song's melody has been adapted into numerous regional military and nationalist anthems. The Princeton football fight song "Nassau! Nassau!" also borrowed the melody of Work's composition.{{Multiref|Spaeth, History of Popular Music, 157|Tribble, "Marching Through Georgia", 423}} A more notable adaptation is the controversial pro-Ulster hymn "Billy Boys",BBC, "Irish FA Bans 'Billy Boys'" with the chorus:{{poemquote|Hello, hello, we are the Billy boys,

Hello, hello, you'll know us by our noise,

We're up to our knees in Fenian blood,

Surrender or you'll die,

For we are the Brigton Derry boys.BBC, "The Bitter Divide"

}}

Both major candidates in the 1896 U.S. presidential election, William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan, featured songs sung to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia" in their campaign.Harpine, "We Want Yer, McKinley", 78–80 The melody of "Paint 'Er Red", a commonplace pro-labor tune of the Industrial Workers of the World, is based on the song.Green et al., Big Red Songbook, 156–157 Above all, the piece is of Liberal significance in the United Kingdom, lending the tune of future prime minister David Lloyd George's campaign song "George and Gladstone",Creiger, Bounder from Wales, 35–36 as well as the Liberal Democrats' de facto anthem, "The Land". The latter is a Georgist protest song calling for the equal distribution of land among the British public,Whitehead, "God Gave the Land to the People" with the refrain:{{poemquote|The land! the land! 'twas God who gave the land!

The land! the land! the ground on which we stand,

Why should we be beggars, with the ballot in our hand?

"God gave the land to the people!"Foner, American Labor Songs, 261

}}

Several films have employed Work's piece. A carpetbagger in the epic Gone with the Wind (1939) chants its chorus while trying to steal Tara from Scarlett O'Hara.{{Multiref|Ivey, "War Is Marching Our Way"|Tome, "Marching Through Georgia"}} The western Shane (1953) features Wilson briefly performing the song on a harmonica.Ivey, "War Is Marching Our Way" "Marching Through Georgia" was additionally incorporated in Ken Burns' documentary The Civil War (1990) and in Charles Ives' orchestral suite Three Places in New England.

{{Notelist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{Cite book |last=Carder |first=P. H. |url=https://archive.org/details/georgefrootcivil0000card |title=George F. Root, Civil War Songwriter: A Biography |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7864-3374-2 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |ref={{harvid|George F. Root}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Creiger |first=Wayne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wl0wAAAAIAAJ |title=Bounder from Wales |year=1976 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=0-8262-0203-9 |location=Columbia, Missouri; London, England |ref={{harvid|Bounder from Wales}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Eicher |first=David J. |author-link=David J. Eicher |url=https://archive.org/details/longestnightmili0000eich |title=The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War |year=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-84944-5 |ref={{harvid|The Longest Night}} |location=New York City, New York}}
• {{cite book |last=Erbsen |first=Wayne |title=Rousing Songs and True Tales of the Civil War |year=2000 |publisher=Mel Bay Publications |isbn=978-1-883206-33-8 |location=Pacific, Missouri |url=https://archive.org/details/rousingsongstrue0000erbs |ref={{harvid|Rousing Songs}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Ewen |first=David |author-link=David Ewen (writer) |url=https://archive.org/details/popularamericanc00ewen |title=Popular American Composers from Revolutionary Times to the Present: A Biographical and Critical Guide |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company, Inc. |year=1962 |isbn=978-0824200404 |location=New York City, New York |ref={{harvid|Popular American Composers}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Finson |first=Jon W. |author-link=Jon W. Finson |url=https://archive.org/details/voicesthataregon0000fins |title=The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-19-505750-3 |location=New York City, New York |ref={{harvid|The Voices That Are Gone}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Foner |first=Philip S. |title=American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century |year=1975 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=0-252-00187-7 |location=Chicago, Illinois |url=https://archive.org/details/americanlaborson0000fone |ref={{harvid|American Labor Songs}} |language= |author-link=Philip S. Foner}}
• {{cite book |title=Big Red Songbook |year=2016 |publisher=Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-62963-129-5 |location=Chicago, Illinois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLZHEAAAQBAJ |ref={{harvid|Big Red Songbook}} |editor-link=Archie Green |editor-last=Green |editor-first=Archie |editor-first2=David |editor-last2=Roediger |editor-link2=David Roediger |editor-last3=Rosemont |editor-first3=Franklin |editor-link3=Franklin Rosemont |editor-first4=Salvatore |editor-last4=Salerno}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Hattaway |first1=Herman |last2=Jones |first2=Arthur |url=https://archive.org/details/hownorthwonmilit0000hatt |title=How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=1991 |edition=2 |isbn=0-252-06210-8 |ref={{harvid|How the North Won}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Howard |first=John T. |author-link=John Tasker Howard |url=https://archive.org/details/ouramericanmusic00howa |title=Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of It |year=1946 |publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell Company |OCLC=423103 |ref={{harvid|Our American Music}} |location=New York |edition=3rd}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Kelley |first1=Bruce C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dle2W2aVN2oC |title=Bugle Resounding: Music and Musicians of the Civil War Era |last2=Snell |first2=Mark A. |publisher=University of Missouri Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-8262-1538-6 |location=Columbia, Missouri |ref={{harvid|Bugle Resounding}}}}
• {{Cite book |editor-last=Kennedy |editor-first=Frances H. |url=https://archive.org/details/Kennedy_Frances_-_Civil_War_Battlefield_Guide/mode/2up |title=The Civil War Battlefield Guide |edition=2 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-395-74012-5 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |ref={{harvid|Civil War Battlefield Guide}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=McWhirter |first=Christian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRjYSJ7HtYcC |title=Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8078-3550-0 |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |ref={{harvid|Battle Hymns}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Root |first=George F. |author-link=George Frederick Root |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r99mo8SAVHcC |title=The Story of a Musical Life: An Autobiography by Geo F. Root |publisher=The John Church Co. |year=1891 |isbn=978-1-4047-8329-4 |location=Cincinnati, Ohio |ref={{harvid|Story of a Musical Life}}}}
• {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0027unse |title=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=1-56159-239-0 |editor-last1=Sadie |editor-first1=Stanley |editor-link1=Stanley Sadie |edition=6 |volume=27 |location=New York City, New York |ref={{harvid|New Grove Dictionary}} |editor-last2=Tyrrell |editor-first2=John |editor-link2=John Tyrrell (musicologist)}}
• {{Cite book |last=Sherman |first=William T. |author-link=William Tecumseh Sherman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0C0OAAAAIAAJ |title=Memoirs of General William T. Sherman |publisher=D. Appleton and Company |year=1875 |volume=2 |location=New York City, New York |isbn=978-0-306-80213-3 |ref={{harvid|Memoirs}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Silber |first=Irwin |author-link=Irwin Silber |url=https://archive.org/details/songsofcivilwar0000unse |title=Songs of the Civil War |publisher=Dover Publications |year=1995 |isbn=0-486-28438-7 |location=Mineola, New York |ref={{harvid|Songs of the Civil War}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Spaeth |first=Sigmund |author-link=Sigmund Spaeth |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpopular00spae |title=A History of Popular Music in America |publisher=Random House |year=1948 |location=New York |ref={{harvid|History of Popular Music}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Work |first=Henry C. |author-link=Henry Clay Work |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggJK-VIgsvwC |title=Songs of Henry Clay Work |publisher=Little & Ives |year=n.d.|editor-last=Work |editor-first=Bertram G. |location=New York City, New York |ref={{harvid|Songs}}}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Birdseye |first=George |year=1879 |title=America's Song Composers: IV. Henry Clay Work |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_potters-american-monthly_1879-04_12_88/page/284/mode/2up |journal=Potter's American Monthly |volume=12 |issue=88 |pages=284–288 |ref={{harvid|America's Song Composers}} |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite journal |last=Drago |first=Edmund L. |date=1973 |title=How Sherman's March Through Georgia Affected the Slaves |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40579903 |journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=361–375 |jstor=40579903 |ref={{harvid|How Sherman's March Affected the Slaves}}}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Epstein |first=Dena J. |author-link=Dena Epstein |year=1944 |title=Music Publishing in Chicago before 1871: The Firm of Root & Cady, 1858-1871 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/891291 |journal=Notes |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=43–59 |doi=10.2307/891291 |jstor=891291 |ref={{harvid|Music Publishing in Chicago}}|url-access=subscription }}
• {{cite journal |last=Harpine |first=William D. |date=2004 |title='We Want Yer, McKinley': Epideictic Rhetoric in Songs from the 1896 Presidential Campaign |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40232421 |journal=Rhetoric Society Quarterly |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=73–88 |doi=10.1080/02773940409391274 |jstor=40232421 |ref={{harvid|We Want Yer, McKinley}}|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Richard S. |year=1953 |title=The Mysterious Chord of Henry Clay Work |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/892874 |journal=Notes |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=211–225 |doi=10.2307/892874 |jstor=892874 |ref={{harvid|The Mysterious Chord}}|url-access=subscription }}
• {{cite journal |last=Rhodes |first=James Ford |author-link=James Ford Rhodes |date=1901 |title=Sherman's March to the Sea |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1833511 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=466–474 |doi=10.2307/1833511 |jstor=1833511 |ref={{harvid|Sherman's March to the Sea}}|url-access=subscription }}
• {{cite journal |last=Sellers |first=James L. |date=1927 |title=The Economic Incidence of the Civil War in the South |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1895946 |journal=The Mississippi Valley Historical Review |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=179–191 |doi=10.2307/1895946 |jstor=1895946 |ref={{harvid|Economic Incidence of the Civil War}}|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Steinle |first=John |date=2008 |title='Shall the People Rule?': Denver Hosts the Democrats, 1908 |url=https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/1908-democratic-national-convention |journal=Colorado Heritage Magazine |volume=28 |issue=3 |ref={{harvid|Shall the People Rule?}} |via=Colorado Encyclopedia}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Tribble |first=Edwin |date=1967 |title='Marching Through Georgia' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41396391 |journal=The Georgia Review |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=423–429 |jstor=41396391 |ref={{harvid|Marching Through Georgia}}}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{Cite news |date=July 16, 1908 |title=News and Views of Things: 'Marching Through Georgia!' |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014546/1908-07-16/ed-1/seq-13 |access-date=September 6, 2024 |work=The Jeffersonian |ref={{harvid|News and Views}} |last=Dolan |first=Tom |pages=13}}
• {{Cite news |title=War is Marching Our Way: The General Hated His Theme Song |url=https://eu.fayobserver.com/story/news/2015/01/13/war-is-marching-our-way/22261478007/ |access-date=September 6, 2024 |work=The Fayetteville Observer |ref={{harvid|War Is Marching Our Way}} |last=Ivey |first=David}}
• {{Cite news |date=August 7, 1920 |title=Stories of Old Home Songs: Marching Through Georgia |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2013218776/1920-08-07/ed-1/seq-9 |access-date=September 6, 2024 |work=Dearborn Independent |ref={{harvid|Stories of Old Home Songs}} |last=Lowden |first=Carl S. |pages=9}}
• {{Cite news |last=McCray |first=Florine Thayer |date=January 19, 1898 |title=About Henry Clay Work |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020358/1898-01-19/ed-1/seq-10 |access-date=June 29, 2024 |work=New Haven Morning Journal and Courier |pages=10 |ref={{harvid|About Henry Clay Work}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=October 29, 1908 |title=Editorial Notes |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014546/1908-10-29/ed-1/seq-16 |access-date=September 6, 2024 |work=The Jeffersonian |ref={{harvid|Editorial Notes}} |last=Watson |first=J. D. |pages=12}}
• {{Cite news |date=April 16, 2014 |title=Irish FA bans 'Billy Boys' song for Linfield fans |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/27054281 |access-date=September 6, 2024 |work=BBC Sport |ref={{harvid|Irish FA Bans 'Billy Boys'}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=June 2, 1999 |title=The bitter divide |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/359039.stm |access-date=September 6, 2024 |work=BBC News |ref={{harvid|The Bitter Divide}}}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{Cite web |last=Bailey |first=Anne J. |date=2020 |title=Sherman's March to the Sea |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-march-to-the-sea/ |access-date=September 6, 2024 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |ref={{harvid|Sherman's March to the Sea (Georgia)}}}}
• {{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Stephen |date=2018 |title=Atlanta Campaign |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/atlanta-campaign/ |access-date=September 7, 2024 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |ref={{harvid|Atlanta Campaign (Davis)}}}}
• {{Cite web |last=Lyftogt |first=Kenneth |title=Byers, Samuel Hawkins Marshall |url=http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=51 |access-date=December 30, 2024 |website=The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa |ref={{harvid|Byers, Samuel Hawkins Marshall}}}}
• {{Cite web |last=Marzalek |first=John F. |date=2021 |title=Sherman's March to the Sea |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/shermans-march-sea |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=American Battlefield Trust |ref={{harvid|Sherman's March to the Sea (Trust)}}}}
• {{Cite web |last=Tome |first=Vanessa P. |date=2021 |title='Marching through Georgia' |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/marching-through-georgia/ |access-date=September 6, 2024 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |ref={{harvid|Marching through Georgia}}}}
• {{Cite web |last=Warren |first=Kim |title=Underground Railroad |url=https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/underground-railroad |access-date=February 12, 2025 |website=Civil War on the Western Border |ref={{harvid|Underground Railroad}}}}
• {{Cite web |last=Whitehead |first=Andrew |date=May 1, 2011 |title=God Gave the Land to the People: the Liberal 'Land Song' |url=https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/democracy/the-land-song/ |access-date=September 6, 2024 |website=History Workshop |ref={{harvid|God Gave the Land to the People}}}}

{{refend}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114019/http://www.friesian.com/ross/marching.htm Commentary] on "Marching Through Georgia" by Kelley L. Ross.
• [https://sheetmusicsinger.com/highbrownsongs/marching-through-georgia/ Sheet music] of "Marching Through Georgia" by Sheet Music Singer.
• [https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/shermans-march-sea Additional information] on Sherman's March to the Sea on the American Battlefield Trust.

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAFEWL0-1sc Recording] by Tennessee Ernie Ford on his 1961 album Songs of the Civil War.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MshXcnVfnxs Recording] by the 97th Regimental String Band on their 1990 album Battlefields and Campfires: Civil War Era Songs, Vol. I.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blOEGHwBFiI Recording] by Jon English on his 2002 album Over There: Songs From America's Wars.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC36hpe1cjc Instrumental] by the U.S. Marine Band on their 2011 album The Heritage of John Philip Sousa: Volume 7.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUDh5XbuZMo Piano instrumental] by Forte Republic as part of their series of piano renditions of Civil War songs.

{{Portal bar|American Civil War|Georgia (U.S. state)|Music}}

Category:1865 songs

Category:American patriotic songs

Category:Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War

Category:Sherman's March to the Sea

Category:Songs of the American Civil War

Category:Songs written by Henry Clay Work

Category:Songs about Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:American military marches