During the American Civil War, music played a prominent role on each side of the conflict, Union (the North) and Confederate (the South). On the battlefield, different instruments including bugles, drums, and fifes were played to issue marching orders or sometimes simply to boost the morale of one's fellow soldiers. Singing was also employed not only as a recreational activity but as a release from the inevitable tensions that come with fighting in a war. In camp, music was a diversion away from the bloodshed, helping the soldiers deal with homesickness and boredom. Soldiers of both sides often engaged in recreation with musical instruments, and when the opposing armies were near each other, sometimes the bands from both sides of the conflict played against each other on the night before a battle.

Each side had its particular favorite tunes, while some music was enjoyed by Northerners and Southerners alike, as exemplified by United States President Abraham Lincoln's love of "Dixie", the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy. To this day, many of the songs are sung when a patriotic piece is required. The war's music also inspired artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Elvis Presley.

Regulations

In May 1861, the United States War Department officially approved that every regiment of infantry and artillery could have a brass band with 24 members, while a cavalry regiment could have one of sixteen members. The Confederate army would also have brass bands. This was followed by a Union army regulation of July 1861 requiring every infantry, artillery, or cavalry company to have two musicians and for there to be a twenty-four man band for every regiment.Lanning p. 243 The July 1861 requirement was ignored as the war dragged on, as riflemen were more needed than musicians. In July 1862 the brass bands of the Union were disassembled by the adjutant general, although the soldiers that comprised them were sometimes re-enlisted and assigned to musician roles. A survey in October 1861 found that 75% of Union regiments had a band. By December 1861 the Union army had 28,000 musicians in 618 bands; a ratio of one soldier out of 41 who served the army was a musician, and the Confederate army was believed to have a similar ratio.Lanning p. 243, Vaughan pp. 194, 195 Musicians were often given special privileges. Union general Philip Sheridan gave his cavalry bands the best horses and special uniforms, believing that "[m]usic has done its share, and more than its share, in winning this war".Lanning, p. 244

Musicians on the battlefield were drummers and buglers, with an occasional fifer. Buglers had to learn forty-nine separate calls just for infantry, with more needed for cavalry. These ranged from battle commands to calls for meal time.Amedeo, p. 127; Miller, p. 92 Some of these required musicians were drummer boys not even in their teens, which allowed an adult man to instead be a foot soldier. The most notable of these under aged musicians was John Clem, also known as "Johnny Shiloh". Union drummers wore white straps to support their drums. The drum and band majors wore baldrics to indicate their status; after the war, this style would be emulated in civilian bands. Drummers would march to the right of a marching column. Similar to buglers, drummers had to learn 39 different beats: fourteen for general use, and 24 for marching cadence. However, buglers were given greater importance than drummers.Lanning p. 243; Miller p. 96

On the battlefield Whole songs were sometimes played during battles. The survivors of the disastrous Pickett's Charge returned under the tune "Nearer My God to Thee".Lanning p. 244 At the Battle of Five Forks, Union musicians under orders from Sheridan played Stephen Foster's minstrel song "Nelly Bly" while being shot at on the front lines. Samuel P. Heintzelman, the commander of the III Corps, saw many of his musicians standing at the back lines at the Battle of Williamsburg, and ordered them to play anything. Their music rallied the Union forces, forcing the Confederate to withdraw. It was said that music was the equivalent of "a thousand men" on one's side. Robert E. Lee himself said, "I don't think we could have an army without music."Lanning pp. 243, 244

Sometimes, musicians were ordered to leave the battlefront and assist the surgeons. One notable time was the 20th Maine's musicians at Little Round Top. As the rest of the regiment were driving back wave after wave of Confederates, the musicians of the regiment were not just performing amputations, but doing it in a very quick manner., National Park ServiceTurner p. 151; Vaughan p. 195

In camp

Many soldiers brought musical instruments from home to pass the time at camp. Banjos, fiddles, concertina, and guitars were particularly popular. Aside from drums, the instruments Confederates played were either acquired before the war or imported, due to the lack of brass and the industry to make such instruments.Heidler p. 1173; Miller p. 190

Musical duels between the two sides were common, as they heard each other as the music traveled across the countryside. The night before the Battle of Stones River, bands from both sides dueled with separate songs until both sides started playing "Home! Sweet Home!", at which time soldiers on both sides started singing together as one.Amedeo p. 257; Vaughan p. 194 A similar situation occurred in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the winter of 1862–63. On a cold afternoon, a Union band started playing Northern patriotic tunes; a Southern band responded by playing Southern patriotic tunes. This back and forth continued into the night, until at the end both sides played "Home! Sweet Home!" simultaneously, to the cheers of both sides' forces. In a third instance, in the spring of 1863, the opposing armies were on the opposite sides of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, when the different sides played their patriotic tunes, and at taps one side played "Home! Sweet Home!", and the other joined in, creating "cheers" from both sides that echoed throughout the hilly countryside.Branham p. 131

Both sides sang "Maryland, My Maryland", although the lyrics were slightly different. Another popular song for both was "Lorena". "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was written in 1863 by Patrick Gilmore, an immigrant from Ireland, and was also enjoyed by both sides.Amedeo, pp. 77, 127Lanning p. 245

Homefront

The first song written for the war, "The First Gun Is Fired", was first published and distributed three days after the Battle of Fort Sumter. George F. Root, who wrote it, is said to have produced the most songs of anyone about the war, over thirty in total.Kelley p. 30; Silber p. 7 Lincoln once wrote a letter to Root, saying, "You have done more than a hundred generals and a thousand orators."Branham p. 132 Other songs played an important role in convincing northern whites that African Americans were willing to fight and wanted freedom, including Henry Clay Work's "Babylon Is Fallen" (1863) and Charles Halpine's "Sambo's Right to Be Kilt".McWhirter 2012, p. 148

The southern states had long lagged behind northern states in producing common literature. With the advent of war, Southern publishers were in demand. These publishers, based largely in five cities (Charleston, South Carolina; Macon, Georgia; Mobile, Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; and New Orleans, Louisiana), produced five times more printed music than they did literature.Harwell, pp. 3, 4

In the Confederate States of America, "God Save the South" was the official national anthem. However, "Dixie" was the most popular. United States President Abraham Lincoln said he loved "Dixie" and wanted to hear it played, saying "as we had captured the rebel army, we had also captured the rebel tune".Branham p. 130 At an April 9, 1865, rally, the band director was surprised when Lincoln requested that the band play "Dixie". Lincoln said, "That tune is now Federal property ... good to show the rebels that, with us in power, they will be free to hear it again." The other prominent tune was "The Bonnie Blue Flag", which, like "Dixie", was written in 1861, unlike Union popular tunes which were written throughout the war.Silber, p. 8

The United States did not have a national anthem at this time ("The Star-Spangled Banner" would not be recognized as such until the twentieth century). Union soldiers frequently sang the "Battle Cry of Freedom", and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was considered the north's most popular song.

African-American music African-American music changed throughout the war. The theme of escape from bondage became especially important in spirituals, both for slaves singing among themselves on plantations and for free and recently freed blacks performing to white audiences. New versions of songs such as "Hail Mary", "Michael Row the Boat Ashore", and "Go Down Moses" stressed the message of freedom and abolition.McWhirter 2012, pp. 149–150, 157 Many new slave songs caught ground, the most popular being "Many Thousands Go", a favorite of African Americans fleeing plantations to Union Army camps.McWhirter 2012, p. 151 There were attempts to publish slave songs during the war. The first was Reverend L. C. Lockwood's publishing of sheet music to "Go Down Moses" in December 1861 based on his experience with escaped slaves in Fort Monroe, Virginia. In 1863, the Continental Monthly published a sampling of spirituals from South Carolina in an article titled "Under the Palmetto".McWhirter 2012, p. 155–156

The white colonel of the all-black First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, noted that when blacks knew that whites were listening, they changed the way they were sung. Likewise, Christian McWhiter writes that African Americans "used their music to reshape white perceptions and foster a new image of black culture as thriving and ready for freedom".McWhirter 2012, p. 152 In Port Royal, escaped slaves learned the anthem "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" in secret, never singing it in front of whites. However, during a public celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation's passage, contrabands sang the anthem to express their new status.McWhirter 2012, p. 158–159 The most popular white songs among slaves were "John Brown's Body" and Henry Clay Work's "Kingdom Coming".McWhirter 2012, p. 159 As the war progressed, the lyrics African Americans sung changed, with vagueness and coded language dropped and open expressions of their new roles as soldiers and citizens embraced.McWhirter 2012, p. 163

In response, Southern slave owners restricted singing on plantations and imprisoning those who chanted songs supporting emancipation or the North.McWhirter 2012, pp. 152–153 On their part, Confederates too embraced slave music, but for antithetical ends. Several Confederate regimental bands included slaves, and they arranged slaves to sing and dance as a show of their supposed happiness and loyalty. The slave performer Blind Tom frequently played pro-Confederate songs such as "Maryland, My Maryland" and "Dixie" and withdrew "Yankee Doodle" from his repertoire.McWhirter 2012, p. 154

Different versions