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Music played a big part of a soldiers life during the Civil War. In a time before portable phonographs or radios, the sounds of fifes, drums, Irish harps, harmonicas, and fiddles filled the  camps. Instrument playing soldiers found themselves in popular demand by all regiments. Many songs of the time were motivational and were written to spur the patriotic feelings in the soldiers and the civilians back home. Others carried some popular folklore. Many songs were written to describe the common soldiers longing for home and his feelings about being at war away from his loved ones. Still others were drinking and humorous tunes meant to pass the time around the fires at night. As would be expected, many of the songs were specific to the Union or Confederate Army. Some songs have two different sets of lyrics, depending on whether it is being sung by Johnny Reb or Billy Yank. In the North, many a Union soldier would find himself waking up, marching, resting, eating, or fading off to sleep to the sound of one of these popular songs. Some songs were written before the Civil War, some were written during the war. It was also popular for soldiers in different regiments to “make up” new verses to songs, especially to the frolicking drinking tunes.
Below are listed some of the popular songs of the Union Army of the time. Open the song and listen to it as you read the lyrics. You can also print the songs out by clicking on the printer at the bottom of each song page. These songs are also spread throughout this web site so you can listen while you browse.
For Civil War reenactors, these are your songs. If you are setting up first-person presentations,  these are the tunes that will fill the air and give your visitors a feeling of being taken back in time.
Reenactors Note: When doing living histories, be aware of the year you are portraying. Many of these songs were written during the War about specific events. For instance, if you are portraying a Federal camp in the spring of 1862, the night before the Battle of Shiloh opens up, you would not be sitting around singing “Marching Through Georgia”, a song about Union General Sherman’s Army marching through the state of Georgia in 1864. So be aware that some of these songs are dated to a particular time period during the war. If your are portraying a general camp that could be any time during the war and is not dated, any song would do! Also be aware that there are many songs that were written well after the war that modern folks associate with the war because they “sound Civil War-ish”. Using these ‘non-period’ tunes for web-sites (which is done on this site too) or for a school report is OK, but using these songs for authentic presentations in the field would not be correct. ( A perfect example of this is “Ashokan Farewell”. This wonderful tune was made popular by the Ken Burns’ ‘Civil War Miniseries’; but was actually composed by Jay Ungar in 1982! It is mistakenly thought to be an Irish ballad from the mid-19th century.)
Turn up your sound and enjoy!
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