meet us,' and to this tune we proposed to set martial words. The Virginia tragedy of John Brown was fresh in our minds, and was emphasized the more by the martial ardor of the little sergeant of the same name. He used to speak of 'marching on' in the spirit of his namesake, and so the first verse sprang into being spontaneously,

John Brown's body lies a moldering in the grave,

His soul goes marching on.

"The second verse applies entirely to Sergeant Brown. He was very short, and was the butt of many jokes from his comrades, when he appeared on parade with his knapsack strapped upon his back, overtopped by the neatly rolled regulation overcoat. He would answer back, 'Well, boys, I'll go marching on with the best of you.' So the second verse was added, 'John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back, His soul goes marching on.'

"The death of Col. Ellsworth at Alexandria gave rise to the third and fourth verses, his old Zouave company going under the soubriquet of 'The Pet Lambs,' while our abhorrence of the Rebellion found vent in our expressed desire to 'Hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree.'

"In this way the song with its five verses was put together, piecemeal, and when sung at night, in the barracks, became immensely popular.

"Every Saturday afternoon Gilmore's Band came down from the city to play for dress parade, accompanied by crowds of people in excursion steamers. One Saturday the quartette took P. S. Gilmore into one of the casemates, and sang the tune to him time and time again, while he played it on his coronet, and then noted the air in his band book. The next Saturday, when the regiment was at parade rest, the band started down the long front to the inspiring strains of 'John Brown,' then played by a band for the first time.

"When the regiment left Boston for Harper's Ferry, it stopped for dinner in City Hall Square, New York. After dinner the line was reformed for the march down Broadway to the Ferry. When the order 'Forward march' rang down the line, our band struck up our favorite tune, the regiment joined in the refrain, and their steady tramp was emphasized by the chorus from a thousand throats of 'Glory Hallelujah.' The song soon became a national one, while in the Army of the Potomac the 12th Mass. was known as the 'Hallelujah Regiment.''

It is generally known that Julia Ward Howe wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic to the measure of the John Brown song. She heard thousands of soldiers singing with great fervor their battle song and was profoundly impressed. At the suggestion of a friend that more appropriate words might be written for the music she composed her famous poem. The soldiers, however, to the end of the war clung to the words of the John Brown song.

OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS

BY THE EDITOR.

PRESTON B. PLUMB.

We have just received a copy of the Life of Preston B. Plumb from his son, A. H. Plumb of Emporia, Kansas. This biography is written by William E. Connelley, the well-known historian and Secretary of the Kansas Historical Society. It is an attractive volume and written in the characteristic style of Mr. Connelley at its best. It has the virtue of an authentic life history and the absorbing interest of a romance. The life of Plumb covers an important period. It deserves a place in every public library of Kansas and Ohio.

Preston B. Plumb was born at Berkshire, Delaware County, Ohio, October 12, 1837. He was the son of David and Hannah (Bierce) Plumb. The Plumbs trace their ancestry to Normandy. They are descended from Robertus Plumme, Preston Plumb attended the schools of his native village. Like other Ohio boys of his day he was brought up on the McGuffey readers. He was called "Bony" Plumb and this is the explanation of how he came to get the name:

"Near the old country schoolhouse where he went to school, in the long winters of Ohio, there was a considerable pond. Skating on the ice in this pond was one of the amusements of the pupils. One spring when the ice nad melted somewhat and

was broken into blocks the boys made it the means of showing their reckless spirit, crossing the pond by jumping from one piece of ice to another. It was finally decided that the pond could not be again crossed in that way. Plumb declared that he could cross it once more. The boys said he could not do it — that no one could do it. He ran swiftly to the pond, and, by bounding lightly and quickly from block to block, crossed it. In the old McGuffey Third Reader, in use in the schools of that day, there is a picture of Bonaparte crossing the Alps to illustrate a lesson from Scott's Life of Napoleon. When Plumb sprang to the bank on the other side of the pond they exclaimed, 'Bonaparte has crossed the Alps!' From that time they called him 'Bony,' and he carried that name even to Kansas."

In 1843 David Plumb moved to a farm in Berlin Township, Delaware County, and in 1846 he went with his family to Marysville, Union County, Ohio. He was a wagon maker and young Preston assisted him in the shop. The boy desired to go to Kenyon College but his father was not financially able to send him. Finally an arrangement was made by which he was to work in the print shop of the college and thus earn his tuition and board. At that time the college published the Western Episcopalian, a periodical issued in the interest of the institution. In this office were also printed the catalogs and circular literature of the college. It is thought that he spent about three years at Kenyon. Connelley draws attention to the large number of distinguished men who have been students of that institution. In the list are Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War under President Lincoln; David Davis, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, United States Senator from Illinois and acting Vice-president, 1881-83; Henry Winter Davis, Congressman from Maryland and famous antislavery advocate; David Turpie, United States Senator

from Indiana; Salmon P. Chase, Governor of Ohio, United States Senator, Secretary of the Treasury under Lincoln and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; William Walker, Chief of the Wyandot Indians and provisional governor of Nebraska Territory.

From college Plumb returned to Marysville and worked as compositor on the Tribune published there. His brother, Josephus Plumb, also worked on this paper. Later, in 1854, he and J. W. Dumble went to Xenia, Ohio, and established the Xenia News. The first issue of this paper bears the date of February 24, 1854. Though only seventeen years old at this time he was regarded as the administrative head of the new venture. He boarded with his partner and worked vigorously night and day to make the News a success. Here he came to know Coates Kinney, the poet whose reputation had already been established, William Dean Howells who was living with his father's family only about three miles distant, and Whitelaw Reid who was the obliging clerk in a store room under the office of the News. The newspaper venture of Plumb and Dumble was a success almost from the start. In 1856 the Dumble interest went to J. B. Liggett.

Plumb was opposed to slavery from childhood and was deeply interested in the struggle between the ProSlavery and Free State men of Kansas. The stories of the burning of Lawrence were a strong appeal to the young journalist. An address delivered at Xenia, June 14, 1856, by Marcus J. Parrott, a Free State man, describing conditions in Kansas so stirred young Plumb that he decided to go to that Territory and join those who were