George Fredrick Root - North Reading, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 33.894 W 071° 04.939
19T E 329077 N 4714600
The grave of poet, composer, singer, and patriot George Fredrick Root, a.k.a. G. Friedrich Wurzel, is located in Harmony Vale Cemetery, North Reading, MA.
Waymark Code: WMVGBJ
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 04/16/2017
Views: 1
A 8' high obelisk marks the grave of 19th century composer and poet George Fredrick Root. The front of the obelisk is inscribed:
GEORGE
FREDRICK
ROOT
POET
TEACHER
SINGER
PATRIOT
The left side is inscribed:
HIS GENTLE
MEMORY IS
THE HERITAGE
OF HIS KINDRED
The right side is inscribed:
HE LOVED
GOD AND MAN
AND WAS
BELOVED OF
BOTH
The back is inscribed:
BORN
AUGUST 30
1820
DIED
AUGUST 6
1895
George Frederick Root was an American poet and composer. He is most famous for writing the Civil War anthems Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! and The Battle Cry of Freedom.
He was born in Sheffield, MA on August 30, 1820. He worked as a church organist in Boston, and later taught music at the New York Institute for the Blind. In Nw York he collaborated with Fanny Crosby to created many popular songs.
He is best known the songs are: The Hazel Dell (1853), Rosalie the Prairie Flower (1855), Departed Days (1857), There's Music in the Air (1857), Flee As a Bird (arr. 1857), The Vacant Chair, or, We Shall Meet But We Shall Miss Him (1861), The Battle Cry of Freedom (1862), Just Before the Battle, Mother (1864), Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!, or, The Prisoner's Hope (1864), Farewell Father, Friend and Guardian (1865), Blaine for Our President (1884), and The Plumed Knight (1884).
George Fredrick Root died on August 6, 1895. He was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.