The Vacant Chair
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John William Grout (1843–1861) was an American Civil War soldier from Worcester, Massachusetts, the subject of the lyrics of "The Vacant Chair".
Life and death
He was a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover in 1859, who served with the Union's 15th Massachusetts as a Second Lieutenant and was killed at age eighteen at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff. His death inspired a famous poem that was later turned into a Civil War song. The poem ("The Vacant Chair") is an allegory that describes the pain suffered by the family of those killed in war when sitting at the Thanksgiving table. The poem was written by Henry S. Washburn and was turned into song by George F. Root. Root wrote "The Battle Cry of Freedom", "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" and other songs of the Civil War. "The Vacant Chair" was a hit in both the North and the South.
Lt. Grout's body was recovered on November 5, 1861, after being washed 35 miles back to Washington, D.C. His remains were identified by the name written on his clothing.
See also
- Life's Railway to Heaven
- Eliza R. Snow ("Truth Reflects upon Our Senses")
Further reading
- Byron Farwell (1990), Ball's Bluff: A Small Battle and Its Long Shadow, McLean, VA: EPM Publications, ISBN 0-939009-36-6 .
- Kim Bernard Holien (1995), Battle at Ball's Bluff, Third Edition, Orange, VA: Publisher's Press, ISBN 0-943522-10-2 .
- James A. Morgan, III (2004), A Little Short of Boats: The Fights at Ball's Bluff and Edwards Ferry, October 21-22, 1861—A History and Tour Guide, Fort Mitchell, KY: Ironclad, ISBN 0-9673770-4-8 .
External links
- Wikipedia articles needing reorganization from February 2011
- American military personnel
- American poems
- 1843 births
- 1861 deaths
- Phillips Academy alumni
- Poems about death
- Union Army soldiers
- Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War
- Works originally published in American newspapers
- Works about the American Civil War