Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/0Gt38YT4AQDg4xRLFH5xuD?si=BNV8P5WQTlqoVoj8rlwA6A
Apple Music: music.apple.com/us/album/historical-songs-on-piano-the-american-civil-war/1810528848

Good day! This is a piano instrumental of the American Civil War era love song "Lorena." It's one of my favorite Civil War songs; I hope you enjoy it!

Discord: discord.com/invite/SGMHeZ7
Instagram: instagram.com/forterepublic

"Lorena" has its origins in Zanesville, Ohio. Reverend Henry D. L. Webster, a poor pastor, fell in love with a girl from Zanesville named Ella Blocksom. Miss Blocksom lived with her sister and brother-in-law, as her parents were deceased. Her brother-in-law, being a wealthy and prominent member of the community, would not allow her to be romantically involved with a poor pastor. Brokenhearted, Henry Webster left Zanesville. In 1854, Ella Blocksom married Ohio Supreme Court Justice William Wartenbee Johnson.

In 1856, Henry Webster found a friend in songwriter Joseph Philbrick Webster, who was looking for lyrics with which to write a song. Henry Webster wrote a ballad about Ella, changing her name to Bertha, for J. P. Webster's song. However, the songwriter wished for a three-syllable name, so Henry Webster changed the name again, from Bertha to Lorena. It is thought that the name "Lorena" was an adaption of "Lenore" from Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven."

"Lorena" became popular during the Civil War with soldiers on both sides, who were reminded of their wives or girlfriends when they heard the song.

The image shown in this video is a painting titled "Farmyard in Winter," painted by Goerge Henry Durrie in 1858.

Lyrics:
Oh, the years creep slowly by, Lorena,
The snow is on the ground again.
The sun's low down the sky, Lorena,
The frost gleams where the flow'rs have been.
But the heart beats on as warmly now,
As when the summer days were nigh.
Oh, the sun can never dip so low
A-down affection's cloudless sky.

A hundred months have passed, Lorena,
Since last I held that hand in mine,
And felt the pulse beat fast, Lorena,
Though mine beat faster far than thine.
A hundred months, 'twas flowery May,
When up the hilly slope we climbed,
To watch the dying of the day,
And hear the distant church bells chime.

We loved each other then, Lorena,
Far more than we ever dared to tell;
And what we might have been, Lorena,
Had but our loving prospered well --
But then, 'tis past, the years are gone,
I'll not call up their shadowy forms;
I'll say to them, "Lost years, sleep on!
Sleep on! nor heed life's pelting storms."

The story of that past, Lorena,
Alas! I care not to repeat,
The hopes that could not last, Lorena,
They lived, but only lived to cheat.
I would not cause e'en one regret
To rankle in your bosom now;
For "if we try we may forget,"
Were words of thine long years ago.

Yes, these were words of thine, Lorena,
They burn within my memory yet;
They touched some tender chords, Lorena,
Which thrill and tremble with regret.
'Twas not thy woman's heart that spoke;
Thy heart was always true to me:
A duty, stern and pressing, broke
The tie which linked my soul with thee.

It matters little now, Lorena,
The past is in the eternal past;
Our heads will soon lie low, Lorena,
Life's tide is ebbing out so fast.
There is a Future! O, thank God!
Of life this is so small a part!
'Tis dust to dust beneath the sod;
But there, up there, 'tis heart to heart.


This instrumental was made using Logic Pro.