Christmas Bells

By Christmas Day in 1863, the Civil War had long since become a long war of attrition that was going to be waged to the bitter end and one side became the totally defeated vanquished foe. Gone were the days and thoughts of a short war where both sides would agree to peace and the United States and the Confederate States of America would live happily ever after!

In spite of the war Christmas was Christmas and was celebrated by both sides, especially on the home front where there was both joy and sorrow.

Joy if the soldier far away from home was safe and sorrow if there was a vacant chair at the dinner table which indicated the soldier was missing in action or had been killed in action.

In the home of Henry Wordsworth Longfellow in Cambridge, Mass., there was both joy and sorrow. Joy because his son who was severely wounded in the Battle of New Hope, Va., had survived and sorrow because his wife had recently died. Then on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1863, he heard the peeling of the church bells and wrote the following poem:

"Christmas Bells"

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearthstones of a continent

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth", I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;

"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

Of peace on earth, good will to men!"

Now, "Christmas Bells" as a poem was not published until 1865, it was set to music in 1872 by John Baptiste Calkin who was an English organist and the title was changed to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Thank you Henry Wordsworth Longfellow for one of our popular Christmas Carols that originated from your and our pain and suffering of our Civil War!