Item #008383 The Soldier to His Mother: Ballad (Two Alternate Titles: On the Field of Battle, Mother and Just Before the Battle, Mother) - Sheet Music. Words Attributed To Thomas McKellar But, Lawson Wood, William P. Lucker.

The Soldier to His Mother: Ballad (Two Alternate Titles: On the Field of Battle, Mother and Just Before the Battle, Mother) - Sheet Music

Cleveland (Also New York, Detroit, and Chicago): S. Brainard & Company (Also S. T. Gordon, D. S. Amsden, and Root & Cady), 1862. First Edition. Sheet Music. Complete with six pages including the cover. Light soiling and wear with a couple of short closed marginal tears. Old tape repair to the spine. Very scarce; at time of listing, OCLC reports no copies of this sheet music held by any institution. There are no examples in the trade, and no auction records at the Rare Book Hub. Very Good. Item #008383

Although often credited to Root & Cady or others, the original lyrics of this famous Civil War ballad were actually written by a young soldier, Lawson Wood, while he waited to die in a Union hospital after being mortally wounded during the initial battle at Vicksburg. Root & Cady planned to publish the soldier's far more heartrending lyrics as written under the title "On the Field of Battle, Mother" and later explained that a mistake was made "in regard to these words." (See "George F. Root" by P. H. Carder and "The Compendium of Every Day Wants" by Luther Minter.)

This example published by Brainard in Cleveland simultaneously with Root & Cady's Chicago 1862 edition contains the dying soldier's original lyrics. Very scarce; as of 2018 OCLC reports no copies of this sheet music held by any institution. There are no examples in the trade, and no auction records at the Rare Book Hub.

Price: $200.00