This week in Christian history: ‘Battle Hymn,’ Menno Simons, Charlemagne

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, January 27, 2019

Julia Ward Howe elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters - January 28, 1908

This week marks the anniversary of when Julia Ward Howe, the author of the famed religious song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The first woman given such an honor, the election was in large part for her famous song, which was originally published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862.  

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“Of all the songs written during and about the War, perhaps none is as strongly identified with the Union cause today as Julia Ward Howe's stirring ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic,’” noted the American Battlefield Trust.

“For over 138 years this song has been a fixture in patriotic programs and is still sung in schools and churches across the nation.”