By Cordelia<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

The piece of music composed by C. Collins Jr. and published in 1861 by Lee & Walker in Philadelphia is fully entitled \u201cOur Native Flag A Solo & Chorus with Piano Forte Accompaniment Respectfully Dedicated to the American Patriots Everywhere.\u201d Without even looking at the music, the title already depicts a divide between two separate forces. The word \u201cpatriot\u201d gives off a connotation of those loyal to the United States of America, especially in regards to the Revolution against the British so the placement of \u201cAmerican\u201d exaggerates the divide between those who still feel pride towards their nation and those who do not: the Confederates. As this song was written just as the Civil War was starting up, it is a fair assumption to make that it was written as a source of pride for only half of the nation. Therefore, \u201cOur Native Flag\u201d refers to the flag of the Union, and the \u201cOur\u201d effectively alienates those who no longer fall under its reign: the Confederacy.<\/p>\n

The words of the song further this idea: the first verse mentions the \u201cbright ensign of Union\u201d that has spread \u201cthe emblem of Freedom through the wide world,\u201d implying that the freedom present in the north inspired other countries to follow the same pattern. Though not mentioning the south, the word \u201cUnion\u201d signifies the northern part of the nation that was, at the time, in the midst of fighting and thereby implies a pride regardless of division. Without the context of time period, the first two verses could appear to be a part of any other patriotic American tune, as it mentions nothing negative about an opposition to the wonders of the Union, yet the third verse finally hints at something amiss.<\/p>\n

The line, \u201cThough traitors, with vengeance our flag may assail yet never, can treason against it prevail,\u201d is a blatant reference to the \u201ctraitorous\u201d secessions begun by South Carolina in 1861. Later, the song asserts that \u201ctheir mission will fail\u201d and the message of patriotism transcends a statement for<\/em> the Union into one against<\/em> the Confederacy. In this sense, the patriotism expressed in the song helps to fuel a need and want for victory in the war against the \u201ctraitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

I find \u201cOur Native Flag\u201d interesting as it was written at a time when the people of the northern United States were forced to come to terms with the fact that major sections of their country were choosing to leave and they would be going to war over the fact that only half of it remained. This song, therefore, appears to be important in establishing a new pride in the same, albeit smaller, nation and served as an attempt to unite the people of a rapidly dissolving country.<\/p>\n

Work Cited<\/p>\n

Collins, C. Our Native Flag<\/em>. Notated Music. Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1861. The Library of Congress, Civil War Sheet Music Collection. http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/ihas.200000428\/ (accessed 19 April 2015)<\/p>\n

<\/a>  <\/a>  <\/a>  <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cordelia The piece of music composed by C. Collins Jr. and published in 1861 by Lee & Walker in Philadelphia is fully entitled \u201cOur Native Flag A Solo & Chorus with Piano Forte Accompaniment Respectfully Dedicated to the American Patriots Everywhere.\u201d Without even looking at the music, the title already depicts a divide between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his245\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}