Notes

1. Miller set his lyrics to the tune of the immensely popular Union song "John Brown's Body." Versions of this song—associated with abolitionist martyr Brown and his militant antislavery message—were used to promote African American enlistment. "Marching Song of the First Arkansas" was issued as a broadside by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments in Philadelphia (David Walls, "Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment: A Contested Attribution," Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 66 [2007], 407). See also "Father Abraham's Proclamation" (Anglo-African, October 3, 1863) and "A War Song for the Black Volunteers" (Anglo-African, October 10, 1863).
2. Lindley Hoffman Miller (1834–1864), son of Jacob W. Miller, US senator from New Jersey (1841–1853). Miller was commissioned as captain in the First Arkansas Volunteers in November 1863. In January 1864 Miller told his mother that he had written "a song for [the soldiers] to the tune of 'John Brown' the other day, which the whole Regiment sings. . . . You will not like it I fear" (quoted in David Walls, "Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment: A Contested Attribution" Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 66 [2007]: 415). Miller's "Song" appeared in the National Anti-Slavery Standard on February 27, with the dateline "Jan. 18, 1864"—a week later it was reprinted on the front page of the Anglo-African.
3. Arkansas seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861. The terms of the Emancipation Proclamation applied to the state: "all persons held as slaves" were declared free on January 1, 1863. The First Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment (African Descent) was officially mustered into service on May 1, 1863. The regiment was posted at Goodrich's Landing in Louisiana between June 1863 and January 1864.