When I was thinking about what carol to share during out history of Christmas carols week, the one that first popped into my thoughts was I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
I don’t know what it is about this song that has always struck a chord with me, but it has.
I knew it was written by a poet, but I had no idea how the song came to be.
The story of this beloved carol begins with the story of a man who would at one time become known as America’s poet.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) on engraving from 1873
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in 1807 in Portland, Maine. He attended Bowdoin College, which was founded by his grandfather and his father was a trustee, then became a professor there. It was also while there he met Nathaniel Hawthorne, who became a lifelong friend He studied in Europe before returning to America and Harvard College.
He married young, but his first wife, Mary, died of a miscarriage in 1835.
His second wife, Francis (Fanny) Appleton, was not easy for him to catch. In July 1839, he wrote: “Victory hangs doubtful. The lady says she will not! I say she shall! It is not pride, but the madness of passion.” He must have eventually wore down her defenses. On May 10, 1843, after seven years, Longfellow received a letter from Fanny Appleton agreeing to marry him. According to lore, he was too restless to take a carriage and walked ninety minutes to meet her at her house. They wed soon after, and her father purchased the Vassall-Craigie House, built in 1759, as a wedding gift. The house had once served as General George Washington’s headquarters during 1775-1776. Longfellow resided there the remainder of his life.
Fanny and Henry had six children: Charles, Ernest, Fanny (who died in infancy), Alice Mary, Edith, and Anne Allegra.
In July, 1861, Fanny was placing locks of the childrens’ hair into an envelope she intended to seal with hot wax while Henry took a nap. It is uncertain how it happened, but her dress caught fire. Henry awakened from his nap and tried to put out the fire with a rug, but it was too small. He finally stifled the flames with his body, but Fanny was badly burned. She died the next morning. Longfellow had also been burned so badly trying to save her he was unable to attend her funeral. His facial injuries led him to stop shaving and he wore his trademark beard the rest of his life.
The death of his beloved Fanny left him devastated. He found it hard to write for quite some time, consumed by his grief.
In 1863, without permission or blessing from Henry, Charles (who was still in his teens), joined the Union Army, leaving behind a letter that stated he felt it his duty to do what he could for his country. He traveled to Washington D.C., where he sought to enlist as a private with the 1st Massachusetts Artillery. Captain W. H. McCartney, commander of Battery A, wrote to Henry, requesting written permission for Charley to become a soldier. Henry granted the permission, then wrote to his friends Charles Sumner (senator from Massachusetts), John Andrew (governor of Massachusetts), and Edward Dalton (medical inspector of the Sixth Army Corps) to lobby for his son to become an officer. His efforts weren’t entirely necessary as Charley had already impressed his fellow soldiers and superiors with his skills, and on March 27, 1863, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, assigned to Company “G.”
Charley fell ill with “camp fever” (some think it may have been typhoid or malaria), and was sent home to recover, missing the Battle of Gettysburg, before he rejoined his unit in August. In November, during the Battle of Mine Run, Charley was shot through the left shoulder, with the bullet exiting under his right shoulder blade. It had traveled across his back and nicked his spine. Charley was carried into New Hope Church in Virginia, then transported to Rapidan River before being taken to Washington D.C., where Henry and Ernest traveled to take care of Charley.
On Christmas Day in 1863, Henry, the widowed father of five living children—the oldest of which had been almost paralyzed as he fought in a war that was tearing the country apart—sought to capture the dynamic and dissonance he felt in his heart and observed in the world around him. As he listened to the church bells in Cambridge ring out, he put pen to paper and wrote “Christmas Bells” a poem first published in February 1865 in Our Young Folks, a magazine published by Ticknor and Fields.
In 1872, English organist John Baptiste Calkin set the poem to music, accompanied by a melody he had previously used. The Calkin version of the carol was long the standard. Other versions have been composed, the most popular being Johnny Marks version in 1956. Bing Crosby recorded the carol using Marks’ melody and verses 1, 2, 6, and 7. The tune Marks composed has received more than 60 commercial recordings, with sales exceeding five million copies.
Longfellow wrote many lyric poems and became the most popular American poet of his day, as well as one lauded overseas. Yet, he was criticized for a writing style that could be too sentimental.
I, for one, am glad he ignored the critics and wrote “Christmas Bells.” It’s a carol that reminds us all to offer “peace on earth, good will to men” with its haunting, heartfelt lyrics.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend watching the newly released movie about this carol and Henry’s story. From Sight & Sound Film, I Heard the Bells is an incredible, heartwarming celebration of love, devotion, and hope.
And enjoy this beautiful version of the song by Rachel Day Hughes who plays Fanny in the movie:
From our home and hearts to yours –
Merry Christmas!
After spending her formative years on a farm in Eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky western heroes.
When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly hiding decadent chocolate from the other occupants of her home, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.
I didn’t know the background of the story. Thank you for sharing.
Merry Christmas Shanna- What an incredible story. Thank you for sharing it with us. It’s amazing to learn the history about songs or saying that we have heard all of our lives.
Love you dearly.
It is amazing to learn what inspired the writers of the carols we all know and love. Big hugs and love to you, my friend!
What an amazing story! Thanks so much. Merry Christmas
Amazing story!
Oh, wow! The background for I Heard The Bells is so tragic, just like the background for It Is Well. God can (and does!) use tragedy to touch us in many different ways. Thank you for sharing!! Merry Christmas!
I Heard the Bells is such a beautiful song and easy to sing. Thank you Shanna for sharing this history. Merry Christmas!
Many thanks for sharing this tremendous story. Our history is very interesting to discover, thanks to people like you. Have a blessed Christmas.
I love this song and I am so glad you shared the story of how it came to be, such tragedies for this family, but what a legacy.
Thank you for sharing the history of this song. It was very interesting. Merry Christmas!
I enjoyed your post very much, thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing the story behind the song. Merry Christmas
Shanna, I did not know this story. Thanks so much for this fascinating post! Merry Christmas!
Thank you this was a very inspirateing story.
Good morning, wow, what a touching story about the background of this beautiful song! Thank you so very much for sharing this with us! I had no idea. May you and your family have a Very Happy and Blessed Christmas.
This is one of my favorite songs of any time of year. From the first time I understood the lyric I was caught by the emotional rollercoaster:
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Thank you for this information and the links to the song and movie. Merry Christmas.
Thank you for sharing such a poignant story and how such a beautiful song came to be.
thank you for sharing today. I love this song also. I knew some of the story but not all. thanks for sharing all of it.
Sad story but interesting. Merry Christmas!!
Thank you for sharing. I had heard this story before. Merry Christmas. God bless you.
Thanks so very much for the origins of this song. I have enjoyed Longfellow’s poetry, but did not realize the song was based on one of them. He had a good life, but a sad one. The loss of his wives and infant child, then the injury of his son must have been crushing blows. I can see how that would influence his writing. Better his work become sentimental rather than bitter and dark. Personally, I think the world needs a bit more sentimentality. We have become jaded and take so much for granted. It isn’t hard to find others who are so much worse off than we are. Spending the season helping those in need (all year long, too) will open our eyes and help us appreciate what we have. We do not know what trials they have seen in their lives.
I likely won’t find the time to watch the movie until after Christmas. Thank you for the link to both the movie and the video. I hope you and your family aren’t suffering from this blast of frigid air. It doesn’t look like many of us will escape it. (It is going to be below zero here in TN in the morning.) May you and yours have an enjoyable Christmas and a wonderful 2023.
I love learning the history of things. It is always fun to discover the little things forgotten.