Root, George F. (George Frederick), 1820-1895

Composer, music educator and president of Root & Sons Music Co., Chicago, Ill. Acquaintance of Abby Hutchinson Patton a famous singer (Hutchinson Family Singers) and song writer of the nineteenth century. Also a campaigner for Abraham Lincoln and member of the Executive Committee of the American Equal Rights Association after the Civil War.

From the description of Letter, June 26, 1891. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library). WorldCat record id: 54354828

George Frederick Root (August 30, 1820 - August 6, 1895) was an American songwriter and music educator perhaps best known for his song "The Battle Cry of Freedom." Root, born in Sheffield, Massachusetts and named after George Frederick Handel, began his music training at home with his father. He did not begin formal music training until he moved to Boston at the age of 18. While in Boston, Root taught voice and music education under the tutelage of Lowell Mason and was the choir director at the Mercer Street Church. Also during this time, Root began publishing collections of choral songs and teaching methods, such as The Young Ladies' Choir (1846).

In 1853, after returning from a few years of voice lessons in France, Root helped Mason organize the first Normal Musical Institute in New York City for training music teachers. Root composed some of the earliest examples of secular cantatas in American music, including the "The Flower Queen" (1852) and "The Haymakers" (1857). Root also began publishing parlor songs in the 1850s, at first under the pseudonym G. Friedrich Wurzel. Early popular songs include "The Hazel Dell" (1852), "There's Music in the Air" (1854), and "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower" (1855). In 1861, three days after the outbreak of the Civil War, Root composed "The First Gun is Fired! May God Protect the Right!" Of Root's more than two hundred songs, approximately thirty of them were written during and about the war, including "The Battle Cry of Freedom" (1862), "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Prisoner's Hope)" (1864), and "Just Before the Battle, Mother" (1864).

In 1860, Root became a partner in the publishing company Root & Cady, which was founded in Chicago by his brother, Ebenezer Root, and C. M. Cady. After the war, Root continued writing songs and compiling songbooks, many of which were first published by Root & Cady. Root continued to support various social causes with his music, such as the temperance movement and the organized labor movement. When Root & Cady was nearly destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Root discontinued his association with the publishing company and focused on writing music. Root died in 1895 at his summer home in Maine.

From the guide to the Polly H. Carder Collection on George F. Root, 1852-1907, 1952-1907, (Special Collections in Performing Arts)