# what are the dews and damps referenced in The Battle Hymn of the Republic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458 "2015-09-25T05:59:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/1 "2015-09-25T05:59:45Z")
I’d guess dews and damps are in some way related to the military camp? but what are/were they? one of the last song references that has me stumped. [lyrics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic) theres a lot of bible references in this song. Its a fascinating hymn to study. here’s just a few Bible References. “the coming of the Lord” Matthew 24:30 - And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.\* “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,” Revelation 14:19 _And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God._ “His truth is marching on” John 14:6 _Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me._ Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Galatians 4:4 _But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,_ Genesis 3:15-16 _And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel._ He has sounded forth the trumpet Revelations - concerning the seven consecutive trumpet judgments by seven angels before the coming of the Lord. > [@](#): > > I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, > They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; > I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: > His day is marching on. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/2 "2015-09-25T06:09:00Z")
wikipedia has an excellent article on the 7 trumpets in Revelations > **[Seven trumpets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_trumpets)** > > In the Book of Revelation, seven trumpets are sounded, one at a time, to cue apocalyptic events seen by John of Patmos (Revelation 1:9) in his vision (Revelation 1:1). The seven trumpets are sounded by seven angels and the events that follow are described in detail from Revelation Chapters 8 to 11. According to Revelation 8:1–2 the angels sound these trumpets after the breaking of the seventh seal. These seals secured the apocalyptic document held in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne.\[... Trumpets brought down the walls of Jericho in the old testament. Julia Ward Howe knew her scriptures. She was an abolitionist and blended it with her views on the war to free the slaves. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/3 "2015-09-25T14:01:18Z")
Also from Wikipedia, “Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning **or evening** due to condensation.” (Bolding added by me.) I would think you would have experienced this once or twice in your lifetime. Also note how the stanza reads: I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on. I think “dews and damps” are used to make the rhyme and meter work. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/4 "2015-09-25T14:02:48Z")
What is wrong with a completely literal interpretation? Dew often falls in the evening, and dew is damp. It gets cool and often damp at an army camp in the evening, so the soldiers light camp fires and oil lamps. The poetry lies in seeing the fires and lamps as totems of God. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/5 "2015-09-25T14:20:28Z")
Howe wrote it during a single sleepless night at the Willard Hotel after having, literally, visited an Army camp. Yes, a literal interpretation works fine. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/6 "2015-09-25T14:43:00Z")
ok. I am quite familiar with dew. 😉 the phrase dews and damps sounded like something very specific. Maybe military. I guess maybe I am just over thinking it and it is just poetic. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Howe wrote it during a single sleepless night at the Willard Hotel after having, literally, visited an Army camp. Yes, a literal interpretation works fine. That must have been one heck of an impressive sight. All those camps and camp fires stretched out over a large area. The sounds of the men talking, the horses and equipment moving about. Quite a tour. > [@](#): > > watch-fires of a hundred circling camps ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/7 "2015-09-25T14:45:47Z")
Could also be an allusion to this passage: [Judges 6:36-40 KJV - And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt - Bible Gateway](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+6%3A36-40&version=KJV) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/8 "2015-09-25T15:10:37Z")
[McClellan’s encampment at Bailey’s Crossroads, specifically.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/how-julia-ward-howe-wrote-battle-hymn-of-the-republic--despite-her-husband/2011/11/15/gIQAnQRaYN_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/9 "2015-09-25T15:23:25Z")
How about “In the beauty of the lilies”? That line always seemed odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/10 "2015-09-25T15:42:57Z")
Lee Greenwood recorded my favorite version of this song. He skips a couple stanzas because its such a long song. I prefer a solo singer over versions by choirs. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/11 "2015-09-25T18:58:54Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > How about “In the beauty of the lilies”? That line always seemed odd to me. The lilies are from this beautiful passage: [Matthew 6:26-30 KJV - Behold the fowls of the air: for they - Bible Gateway](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A26-30&version=KJV) And, as seen from America, I guess that would be “across the sea”. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/12 "2015-09-26T05:08:38Z")
Then how about the “terrible swift sword”? Is there a specific verse that’s from? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/13 "2015-09-26T06:24:00Z")
There is no verse that has that specific wording. There are several verses, most notably in Revelation, that describe Jesus as having a sword. There are also several verses that specifically compare the word of God to a sword. Revelation 19:15 **may** be the inspiration for that phrase: “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/14 "2015-09-26T14:55:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; In the cool evening, when the dew was beginning to form and it was damp, they built an altar. (I presume from the bones of the enemy’s dead, but I can’t find textual support for that interpretation.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/15 "2015-09-26T15:20:50Z")
There are also Old Testament references to a sword of God: See, for instance, [Gen 3:24](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3:24&version=NIV), with “a flaming sword flashing back and forth”. It doesn’t take too much imagination to see that as “fateful lightning of a terrible swift sword”. That particular passage is about guarding Eden, but one supposes that when God marches to war, He uses something not too dissimilar. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/16 "2015-09-26T19:11:54Z")
_Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword._ Matthew 10:34 ---
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dews-and-damps-referenced-in-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/732458/17 "2015-09-26T21:52:16Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Howe wrote it during a single sleepless night at the Willard Hotel after having, literally, visited an Army camp. Yes, a literal interpretation works fine. I read she wrote it down in the middle of the night so she would not forget. A great piece.