Song

Summary

The upcoming 150th anniversary provides an incentive for those of us who sing, teach, or write to conduct some research into Civil War songs. Because the Civil War years coincide with the rise of the American song publishing industry, there is a large vault through which to sort. Song artifacts relating to New York are particularly easy to find, in large part because the national broadside ballad press was centered close to New York’s City Hall and was at its zenith between 1861 and 1865.