Documents - Hymns

1832 - “America,” handwritten & signed by Samuel Francis Smith

“Written in Andover Feb 1832”
“This Autographed March 2, 1895”

Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words for "America" in 1832. He was translating some songs from German into English for an organist friend, Lowell Mason. One of the songs, a German patriotic song called "God Bless Our Native Land," caught Smith’s interest. He liked the melody, and he thought that the United States needed a patriotic song like that, so he wrote the words to the song we know as "America."

The melody Smith used for his words is a very popular one. The same melody is also used for the British anthem, "God Save the Queen (King)." Lowell Mason published Smith’s song, and on the Fourth of July, 1831, it was first sung in Boston, Massachusetts. Soon the song that begins "My country ‘tis of thee . . ." was popular all over the United States.

Today, we usually see four verses for "America." When Smith first wrote it, however, he included a fifth verse that had a negative tone toward Great Britain. Sometime later, Smith regretted writing that verse and cut it out of his original manuscript.

1865 - Onward, Christian Soldiers, handwritten & signed by Sabine Baring-Gould:

Baring-Gould wrote about this hymn:

Whit Monday is a great day for school festivals in Yorkshire. One Whit Monday, thirty years ago, it was arranged that our school should join forces with that of a neighboring village. I wanted the children to sing when marching from one village to another, but couldn’t think of anything quite suitable; so I sat up at night, resolved that I would write something myself. “Onward, Christian Soldiers” was the result. It was written in great haste, and I am afraid some of the rhymes are faulty. Certainly nothing has surprised me more than its popularity. I don’t remember how it got printed first, but I know that very soon it found its way into several collections. I have written a few other hymns since then, but only two or three have become at all well known.