Education of the growing middle class invariably included music lessons, and the printing of easy sheet music proliferated to meet the demand of parlor musicians. You could often hear fiddles, flutes, banjos, and other easily made instruments in households across the economic spectrum wealthier households might have had a piano both as a musical instrument and as a status symbol. That’s because well before the invention of iPods or even radio, people relied on themselves, their families, and their communities for the music of daily life. There was a great deal of music making everywhere. Laying the groundwork for music’s integral role in the war was America’s rich and expanding musical life in the preceding years. Exploring the conflict’s varied soundtrack, from patriotic marches to haunting ballads, offers a window to the spirit, story, and emotion of a traumatic time in American history. Even so, wars have historically inspired and even required music, and the Civil War (1861–65) was no different. You might not think of a battlefield as a great place to hear music-it has probably never been anyone’s first choice of a concert venue.

Band of the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in front of Petersburg, Va., August, 1864.

Battle cry of freedom union