These Are My People, Quaint and Ancient

by Julia Ward Howe

These are My People, Quaint and Ancient was included in her biography, Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), published in 1915. Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott won the Pulitzer Prize for the book in 1917.

These are my people, quaint and ancient,
Gentlefolks with their prim old ways;
This, their leader come from England,
Governed a State in early days.

I must vanish with my ancients,
But a golden web of love
Is around us and beneath us,
Binds us to our home above.

Enjoy reading Howe's most famous poem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, featured in our collection of Civil War Stories.