Hosannas for the Weary: Five Hymns of Hope When Your Heart Feels Heavyഉദാഹരണം

We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace

Most early spirituals (pre–Civil War songs) went through many versions and variations. Often, they were not written down for decades after they were first sung or “composed.” The origin of this song is unknown, but it was notated after being sung by enslaved soldiers enlisted by Union forces in 1861 off the coast of South Carolina. (Because men who were still enslaved would not be accepted as Union soldiers, their owners gave them “freedom” to allow their enlistment.) This song is attributed to the regiment of Union commander Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a Unitarian abolitionist from Massachusetts. It was originally sung as “We shall march.” The version here is simplified in both text and tune. Original texts include, “Before I give myself away” and “when I’m dead and buried in the cold, silent tomb, I don’t want you to grieve for me.”

Some sources attribute the text to A. L. Hatter; however, little is known about him except that he may have notated and arranged the song as we know it.

As you sing this spiritual . . . imagine being in a troop of thirty to one hundred Union soldiers, walking toward an unseen enemy. The Confederate army did not usually march in formation but hid randomly in the woods alongside the roads. Often the Black Union soldiers were poorly dressed, poorly equipped, possibly barefooted, and wondering when an unseen gun might pick them off. Can you imagine the trepidation and fear?

A valley is a low area flanked by hills or mountains that cast shadows, which may create an ominous feeling, as Psalm 23 describes: “the valley of the shadow of death.” Yet, here they sing, “we shall walk through the valley in peace.” The former slaves who first sang this must have known Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” They did not sing of escaping the journey; they simply did not fear it. The belief that Jesus was leading them to where there would be no sorrow, where they would see Him personally, where they would see their loved ones, and where all tears would be wiped from their eyes was their hope, their confidence. They believed in Heaven—a place of true peace.

We all experience valleys. Valleys of sorrow, of testing, of anxiety, of persecution, of depression. Let this quiet spiritual remind us in those times what awaits us in the wonder of heaven and that there is no need to fear our “unseen enemy,” death. Psalm 23 ends with a great paean of promise: “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever!”