"The First Gun Is Fired, May God Protect the Right"[a] is a patriotic song written and composed by George Frederick Root in 1861.
He left his mark in nurturing American music education and composing homespun, popular songs that distinctly appealed to the masses.
When the Civil War broke out, his populist approach to music duly translated into a rousing rallying song, "The First Gun Is Fired".
The tune was so successful that the publishing house, William Hall & Son, promptly signed him up for an exclusive three-year contract.
In 1860, he became a partner of Root & Cady; his entry "immediately effected an increase of business and popularity to an already well-established house."
The most critical situation existed at Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, which was occupied by a small federal garrison under the command of Maj. Gen. Robert Anderson.
Uncertain of his options, Lincoln consulted Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, the army's commander, who concurred with Anderson's assessment that it was impossible to reinforce the fort.
But Lincoln, who was under growing popular pressure to take action, could not bring himself to abandon the fort, a move which, he later contended, "would be our national destruction consummated."
The time had come for a decision, and, after a sleepless night, Lincoln assembled the cabinet on March 29 to consider the situation at Fort Sumter.
Later that day, Lincoln ordered Fox to assemble a fleet in New York City and be ready to sail no later than April 6.
After a fumbling start, and in spite of internal divisions in his administration, Lincoln had maneuvered the situation so that if war ensued, the Confederates would have to fire the first shot.
Quickly informed of Lincoln's action by South Carolina's governor, President Jefferson Davis and the Confederate cabinet decided to demand the immediate surrender of Fort Sumter.
The next day, April 15, Lincoln issued a proclamation for 75,000 troops to put down "combinations" in the seceded states "too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.
Its echoes thrill the land, And the bounding hearts of the patriot throng, Now firmly take their stand; We will bow no more to the tyrant few Who scorn our long forbearing, But with Columbia's stars and stripes We'll quench their trait'rous daring.
Rather, according to historian Gary W. Gallagher when commenting on "The Battle Cry of Freedom", Root promotes the notion that Americans can only be free if their nation is united.
[11] Faith was a prevalent motif in Unionist music; Christian imagery imparted a sense of righteousness tied to their cause,[12] evident in Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic"[13] and Root's "God Bless Our Young Brave Volunteers".
"[15][2] Just as the nation's early songwriters spoke of patriotism "sincerely and forcefully,"[16] Root's lyrics "[flow] with energy and conviction.
According to Carder, the song strikingly resembles a tune in Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation, "The Heavens Are Telling".