The sheet music for this song, which was published in 1863, shows a dedication to "His Excellency A.G. Curtin."

Andrew Gregg Curtin (1817-1894) was the Governor of Pennsylvania. A Whig politician, he had been nominated for the governorship in 1860 by Republicans, who hoped he would help carry Pennsylvania for Abraham Lincoln in the upcoming presidential election.

Curtin and Lincoln were both elected, and when the War began the following year, Curtin proved himself as capable a wartime administrator as Lincoln. He supplied the Union war effort with both men and materiel and made it a point to provide for the dependents of Pennsylvania soldiers as well. He was elected to a second term in 1863.

Although he was considered briefly for the Vice Presidency in 1868, he lost the nomination to Schuyler Colfax and went instead to Russia as Ulysses S. Grant's minister. Curtin returned home in 1872 and eventually changed party allegiance, serving three terms as a Democratic Congressman.


"Always Stand on the Union Side"