Which US poet wrote the 1864 poem ‘Christmas Day’, after he had received news that his son had been seriously injured fighting in the American Civil War?
Christmas in the American Civil War a funeral salute. Carols, hymns, and seasonal songs were sung during the period, with some, such as "Deck the Halls", "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", and Mendelssohn's "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" (1840), still sung today. American musical contributions to the season include "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (1850), "Jingle Bells" (1857), "We Three Kings of Orient Are" (1857) and "Up on the Housetop" (1860). Although popular in Europe at the time, Christmas cards were scarce in the United States, and would not enjoy widespread use until the 1870s. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his pacifist poem, "Christmas Bells" on
Christmas in the American Civil War Christmas Day 1864 at the news of his son Lieutenant Charles Appleton Longfellow having suffered severe wounds in November during the Mine Run Campaign. The poem was set to the tune "Waltham" by John Baptiste Calkin sometime after 1872 and has since been received into the established library of Christmas carols. The carol does not include two stanzas from the original poem that focused on the war. For children, Christmas was altered during the war. Presents were fewer, especially in the devastated South. In "We Were Marching on Christmas Day", author Kevin Rawlings notes that some southern children worried about