Grierson, Benjamin Henry. "Song of Jubilee"

This collection consists of a handwritten, four-page copy of “Song of Jubilee” by Benjamin Henry Grierson. The song was composed to celebrate the victory of Abraham Lincoln after the 1860 election.

Benjamin Henry Grierson (1826-1911) was a calvary general in the United States Army. He served in the Union Army and is best known for Grierson’s Calvary Raid of 1863, which was part of the Vicksburg Campaign. After the war, Grierson was assigned to be a commander of the 10^th U.S. Cavalry. Known as Buffalo Soldiers, the regiment consisted of Black soldiers and white officers. Before the Civil War, Grierson was a music teacher in Jacksonville, Illinois. He and his wife, Alice Grierson, had seven children.

This collection consists of four pages of handwritten lyrics to the “Song of Jubilee” by Benjamin Henry Grierson. The catalog card for the item from the 1960s claims this is a holograph copy, but the origin is unclear. The song has twelve stanzas and was written to celebrate the victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 U.S. Presidential election. Each stanza ends with a chorus starting with “Ha, ha – Ha, ha…” Several lines mock the Democrats and their presidential candidate Stephen Douglas, calling him “little Doug.” 

The Library acquired this document circa 1963. Previously, this item was cataloged under MS 973.7L63 H5G87s.