A prominent nineteenth-century American songwriter who composed more than 200 songs during his lifetime, many under the German pseudonym G. Friedrich Wurzel, George Frederick Root’s legacy in American history was ensured primarily through the fame he acquired during the Civil War pitting the Union against the Confederacy. Born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in August 1820, Root was prolific as a composer during the war, publishing more than thirty songs between the beginning of the conflict in April 1861 and its end in April 1865, including “Battle-Cry of Freedom” in 1862. The most prominent theme in the song is associated with the final word in its title, in that the principal cause of the Civil War was the determination of the eleven Confederate States of America that seceded from the Union between December 1860 and December 1861 to maintain the institution of slavery no matter what the cost.