THE STORY OF A SONG FROM THE SAWDUST TRAIL
TO THE PICKET LINE
For a hundred years hearts have quickened to the martial strains and words of "Hold the Fort." As a gospel song it has sent sinners down the sawdust trail to redemption in many a revival meeting, and in other guises it has stirred Republican voters, Populists, Prohibitionists, Suffragettes, workers, and Ghanaian nationalists. It is as a labor union song, however, that its popularity has rivaled that of its gospel beginnings, for it has inspired countless workers to face down boss and deputy sheriff alike with courage and religious fervor.
The Author: Paul J. Scheips is a historian in the Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, where he has been devoting much of his time to the history of the United States Army's role in civil disturbances. From 1952 to 1962 he was a historian in the United States Army Signal Corps Historical Division, and it was there he became interested in "Hold the Fort."
The Talking Flag of Kennesaw
"Hold the Fort" grew out of the Civil War Battle of Allatoona on 5 October 1864, the last action in the vicinity of Atlanta.[1] More particularly, it grew out of a report of one or more messages wigwagged from Kennesaw Mountain, north of Atlanta, as Confederate forces of Lieutenant General John B. Hood moved to cut the communications of Major General William T. Sherman along the line of the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Allatoona Pass, a fortified railroad cut.[2] (See cover illustration.)
Actually, there were at least three Signal Corps wigwag messages to the Allatoona garrison that separately or together could have inspired "Hold the Fort." Brigadier General William Vandever, Sherman's subordinate, signed and dispatched two of these messages on 4 October. One of them read: "Sherman is moving in force. Hold out." The second one read: "General Sherman says hold fast. We are coming."[3] The third message, unsigned in the official published version, bore the initial of the signal officer on Kennesaw Mountain, according to the recollection of John Q. Adams, who as a second lieutenant had been in charge of the signal station where it was received on 5 October "before it became too hot for signaling." As published, this third message read: "Tell Allatoona hold on. General Sherman says he is working hard for you."[4]
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