Composer

George Frederick Root

1820–1895 · Sheffield, Massachusetts · United States

Self-taught on several instruments as a boy near Boston, he trained under Lowell Mason and in 1853 opened the country's first musical normal school for teachers. In New York he wrote a cantata with Fanny Crosby, and in 1860 he founded the Chicago publishing house Root and Cady. His Civil War songs, including "The Battle Cry of Freedom," sold across the North.

Tunes

4

Lived

1820–1895

Hymnals

2