Marching Through Georgia

"Marching Through Georgia" is an American Civil War-era marching song written and composed by Henry Clay Work in 1865. It is sung from the perspective of a Union soldier who had participated in Sherman's March to the Sea; he looks back on the momentous triumph after which Georgia became a "thoroughfare for freedom" and the Confederacy neared collapse.

Work made a name for himself in the Civil War for penning rousing tunes that reflected the Union's struggle and progress in the war. The music publishing house Root & Cady employed him in 1861, a post he maintained throughout the war. Following the March to the Sea, the Union's triumph that left Confederate resources in tatters and civilians in anguish, Work was inspired to write a commemorative tune, "Marching Through Georgia".

The song was released in January 1865 to widespread success. One of the few Civil War compositions that withstood the war's end, it cemented a place in veteran reunions and marching parades. Sherman, to whom the song is dedicated, famously grew to despise it after being repeatedly subjected to its strains at the public gatherings he attended. "Marching Through Georgia" lent its tune to numerous partisan hymns, such as "Billy Boys" and "The Land". Beyond the United States, troops across the world have adopted it as a marching standard, from the Japanese in the Russo–Japanese War to the British in World War Two.

Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) was a printer by trade. However, his true passion rested in music, a passion that blossomed during his youth and drew him into songwriting. He published a song for the first time in 1853, and eight years later, when the American Civil War broke out, his musical efforts took on a new life. Work promptly approached the Chicagoan music publishing firm Root & Cady, presenting its director George F. Root with a manuscript of "Kingdom Coming". Root was impressed and assigned him a post.

Throughout the Civil War, music bore great importance, as Irwin Silber comments: "soldiers and civilians of the Union states were inspired and propagandized by a host of patriotic songs." Work, a Northerner, delivered, penning 25 pro-Union songs from 1861 to 1865. His songs have been noted for communicating the feelings of Union civilians, perhaps moreso than [those of] … any other songwriter," writes The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Some of Work's wartime compositions also impart antislavery sentiments, stemming from his upbringing on the Underground Railroad.

"Marching Through Georgia" marked the apex of Work's career up to that point. Released on January 9, 1865, it commemorates the March to the Sea, a momentous Union triumph that took place a few weeks prior. The song is dedicated to the campaign's mastermind, Major General William T. Sherman. While other contemporary songs honored the march, such as H. M. Higgins's "General Sherman and His Boys in Blue" and S. T. Gordon's "Sherman's March to the Sea", Work's composition remains the best known.

By September 1864 the Union looked set to win the war. Following three years of a bloody stalemate, Sherman's capture of Atlanta, a pivotal Southern city, proved a deliverance for the Northern cause. Sherman then eyed the coastal city of Savannah which, if captured, would split the Confederacy in half. In late September the plan was finalized and Major General Ulysses S. Grant eventually gave his assent.

On November 15, 62,000 Union troops left Atlanta and commenced the March to the Sea. The South was caught off guard and never managed to muster effective resistance. As such, progress was smooth and nigh undisturbed. Sherman recalls in his memoirs: "[Maj. Gen. Hardee, his main rival, had] not forced us to use anything but a skirmish-line, though at several points he had erected fortifications and tried to alarm us by bombastic threats." After a series of minor skirmishes and just two notable engagements, at Griswoldville and Fort McAllister, the Union army moved into Savannah on December 21. This ended the March to the Sea. Five months later, the war's Western theater closed.