Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
“Separated by Civil War” – Thomas Nast (Jan., 1863)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a beloved 19th-century American poet but his carol was born out of twin tragedies in the middle of the Civil War – the death of his 2nd wife and the wounding of his son in Civil War The carol reflected Longfellow’s view of the war in negative terms. “And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”