Civil War Chanties: Making the Connection Between Naval Music and Hampton Roads

Sailors of the Civil War were a diverse lot with diverse interests, as this photograph by Matthew Brady aboard USS Hunchback (1862-1865) in the James River can attest. They enjoyed reading, smoking, and taking care of their animals (note the Sailor with his fluffy white dog next to the Sailors who are reading). One Sailor is featured prominently with his banjo in the foreground. Music was very much a part of the lives of these men, and their songs are of special interest to historians today.  (Original photograph has Brady negative number B-2011. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 59430)

By Matthew Headrick
HRNM Educator

New discussions have emerged regarding the validity of the term "chanty" (also spelled “shanty”) since the 2011 release of Smithsonian Folkways Civil War Naval Songs: Period Ballads from the Union and Confederate Navies, and the Home Front. Other debates continue unabated, such as: What qualifies as a chanty? Which chanties were actually sung on ships? Were they written during or after the war?  And, last but not least, “Which ones were written about historical events that took place in Hampton Roads?

Few scholars have written about the relationship between music and sailors’ way of life. This is partially due to a lack of primary source material. What research has shown is that these songs were not only sung aboard vessels but in public spaces as well, making the “musical genre” an important part of popular culture during that era. There is some debate about the origins of “sea chanties.” In the article “’The Execrable Term’: A Contentious History of Chanty” (American Speech 92 (2017): 429-458), Gibb Schreffler argues that this type of song was not classified as a musical genre until sailors' work songs were no longer being heard on ship decks.

Schreffler goes on to say that the word “chanty” might have been applied incorrectly. Chanties are rarely mentioned in the journals of nineteenth-century sailors, but “shanty man” is frequently used; that being the individual who sets the cadence for the song (Schreffler, 441). Early twentieth-century scholars intended to associate the chanty with “English identity” (Schreffler, 430). So, they wrote about how and why chanties classify as “folk music” (Schreffler, 430). When in fact, the chanty can be traced back to African, French, and in some cases, American origins, particularly “cotton-screwers of the Gulf ports” and stevedores on Trinidad (Schreffler, 445). Schreffler’s article emphasizes the role African-American Chesapeake Bay fishermen and St. Vincent Island watermen had in carrying on the tradition for so long.

Historians agree that the chanty, or what is also referred to as “song and chant,” was once a significant part of the naval culture (Schreffler). Music was more than just a way for sailors to pass time between fighting. It was a coping mechanism. In Michael J. Bennet’s book Union Jacks: Yankee Sailors in the Civil War (University of North Carolina Press, 2004), he discusses how music was a form of “Escapism” for seaman (Bennett, 101). Bennett describes the Navy, at that time, as “a rigid system of moral and behavioral supervision in a fixed hierarchy presided over by career and volunteer officers” (Bennett, 100). The Navy tried to address the problem of desertion by restricting liberty to an absolute minimum. This meant keeping sailors away from ports as much as possible. As a result, sailors stayed out at sea longer. Also, Congress addressed what they perceived as disciplinary issues among enlisted men. It was believed that alcohol was surely at the root of any problem concerning a Sailor’s behavior. On July 14, 1862, Congress passed the “Act for the Better Government of the Navy of the United States” which was aimed at correcting “the misbehavior of sailors” (Bennett, 110). By September, alcohol could no longer be brought onboard ships. Not surprisingly, reforms such as this were unpopular among Sailors. Even officers were dismayed. The feeling of consternation and revulsion among sailors can be heard in the popular song “Farewell to Grog” 

Come, messmates, pass the bottle ‘round

Our time is short, remember,

For our grog must stop

and our spirits drop

On the first day of September.

Not all naval songs conveyed feelings of dismay or addressed discrepancies between enlisted Sailors and their leadership. Most songs told stories about the Navy’s successes in battle. Chanties that date back to the Civil War seemed to have more of a harmonic composition. Most Civil War-era maritime songs were sung by Sailors aboard ships at sea, but they were also meant to be heard by the public. They sang about commerce raiding, close-quarter battles, and even more intimate stories that dealt with the classic hero's journey. Songs found their way from the ship to the saloon. They could be heard in theaters and music halls. 

Some of the more popular songs that we know about, like the ones featured by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, had some type of connection to Hampton Roads. Examples include “The Jamestown Homeward Bound,” a song which was also featured by pioneering author (and daughter of a sea captain who was born on a sailing ship and raised at sea) Joanna Carver Colcord in her book Songs of American Sailormen (Bramhall House, 1924). The Jamestown was built in 1844 at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The song was known to have been sung onboard the sloop-of-war during the Civil War. The song originates from a voyage to the Mediterranean.

A vast majority of Civil War naval songs were about specific battles. One of the most popular events to sing about was the Battle of Hampton Roads. In his book Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War (University of North Carolina Press, 2012), Christian McWhirter discusses how music was a way to keep the public informed on what was happening “while shaping their perceptions” (McWhirter, 84). “The Old Virginia Lowlands, Low” served both purposes.
 
The song was published by a New Yorker named Henry De Marsan and tells the story of the Battle of Hampton Roads from the Union's point of view. It pays homage to John Ericsson, the USS Monitor's architect. Judging by the language, the song clearly has an agenda. It paints a picture of the underdog USS Monitor, or "little union battery" fighting for her life against "the rebel monster" CSS Virginia. Furthermore, Ericsson's "little Monitor" is declared "the champion of the sea" (De Marsan). The Monitor was a much more effective warship than the CSS Virginia due to her revolving turret. Historians agree the battle was a tie. The author of the tune for Charles A. Clark’s “The Monitor & Merrimac” (Merrimack) is unknown, but Dan Milner’s composed track can still be heard on the Smithsonian Folkways album.

Other songs related to Hampton Roads in the Smithsonian Folkways recording include "The Florida’s Cruise." The CSS Florida sank off Newport News on November 28, 1864. The song is also mentioned in Frank Moore’s The Civil War in Song and Story, 1860-1865 (P.F. Collier, 1889), which is a great source for finding chanty lyrics. Some titles in Moore’s book are labeled as “poems” rather than songs, such as “The Cumberland” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Moore, 183). This begs the question of what classifies a work as a chanty, poem, or song. "The Brooklyn, Sloop-of-War" was written by someone who served on the warship by the name of William Densmore. She had been docked in Norfolk, Virginia, before the outbreak of war. She was later sold at the Norfolk Navy Yard at auction.

Songs featured on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings barely scratch the surface. As music becomes a more popular topic in the field of naval history, we can be confident that historians will shed more light on the subject.

Sources

Bennett, Michael J. Union Jacks: Yankee Sailors in the Civil War. Chapel Hill & London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Colcord, Joanna C. Songs of American Sailormen (with music). New York: Bramhall

House, 1924.

Donohoe, Gabriel, ed., and Dan Milner. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Civil War Naval Songs: Period Ballads from the Union and Confederate Navies, and the Home Front. SFW CD 40189. 2011.

Gambino, Megan. “Smithsonian Folkways Releases ‘Civil War Naval Songs.’” Smithsonian.com, April 22, 2011. Accessed November 7, 2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/smithsonian-folkways-releases-civil-war-naval-songs-178171000/

McWhirter, Christian. Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012.

Moore, Frank, ed. The Civil War in Song and Story: 1860-1865. Alpha Edition. 2019.

New York: P. F. Collier Publisher, 1889.

Schenk, Casper. “Farewell to Grog,” Navy Department Library, accessed October 13, 2019. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/z-files/zv-miscellaneous-files-navy-department-library/farewell-to-grog.html

Schreffler, Gibb “The Execrable Term: A Contentious History of Chanty,” American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage 92 (November 2017): 429-458.