In 1864 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a widower with six children. He had and would see the grief of Civil War. This man's way of coping has brought us the beautiful Christmas Carol "I heard The Bells On Christmas Day".
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's oldest son Charley [this is what he was called by the family] enlisted to fight for the Union in March 1863. He would become a Second Lieutenant in Company G of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. Charley missed the battle of Gettysburg do to an outbreak of typhoid.
However on 1 Dec 1863 Henry Wadsworth learned that his son had been critically wounded during some skirmishing as part of the Mine Run Campaign. Charley was moved to New Hope Church, where his father found him on 5 Dec 1863.Wadsworth was told that his son might not survive, and if he, he could be paralyzed.
Wadsworth wrote the word to the poem that would become our song, while waiting for his son to recuperate. He was inspired after hearing church bells tolling Luke 2:14 "Peace on Earth" on Christmas morning.
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 all 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 hearth-stones 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,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
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 all 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 hearth-stones 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,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
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