Lyrics
Sound the battle cry!
See, the foe is nigh,
Raise the standard high
For the Lord.
Gird your armour on;
Stand firm every one;
Rest your cause upon
His holy word.
Rouse, then, soldiers, rally round the banner!
Ready, steady, pass the word along;
Onward, forward, shout aloud hosanna!
Christ is captain of the mighty throng.
Strong to meet the foe,
Marching on we go,
While our cause we know
Must prevail.
Shield and banner bright,
Gleaming in the light,
Battling for the right,
We ne'er can fail.
O Thou God of all,
Hear us when we call,
Help us one and all
By Thy grace!
When the battle's done,
And the victory won,
May we wear the crown
Before Thy face.
Public domain hymn text and tune (published 1869), based on Ephesians 6.
The Story Behind the Hymn
William F. Sherwin wrote both the words and music of "Sound the Battle Cry" in 1869, originally as a temperance hymn. It first appeared that year in Bright Jewels, a Sunday school collection published in New York by Robert Lowry, under the earlier title "Christian Courage."
Sherwin, born in Buckland, Massachusetts, in 1826, had limited access to formal schooling as a child but pursued music with enough determination that he went on to study under the noted composer and educator Lowell Mason and later taught at the New England Conservatory of Music. His gift for organizing and leading amateur choruses led to his selection as the first music director of the Chautauqua Assembly camp meetings, an influential summer education movement that shaped American religious and cultural life for decades.
Though written for temperance meetings, the hymn's imagery draws on the broader biblical picture of spiritual warfare found in Ephesians 6 — the armor of God, standing firm, resting one's cause on Scripture — language that transferred easily from its original context into general use as a hymn of Christian resolve and courage.
Sherwin worked for years alongside Robert Lowry compiling Sunday school hymnals, and "Sound the Battle Cry" became one of the more durable results of that partnership, its urgent, marching refrain — "rouse, then, soldiers, rally round the banner" — carrying it well beyond the temperance movement that first occasioned it.
