Annotation:There is a Fountain
X:1 T:There is a Fountain D:Tola Custy & Cyril O'Donoghue, "Setting Free", CICD 098, 1994 R:slow march Z:Paul de Grae M:2/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=40 K:D DF|A3 B|A2 d2|Bd2 B|A2 DF|A3 A|BA FD|E4-|E2 DF| A3 B|A2 d2|Bd2 B|AB de|f4|ed ef|d4-|d2:|:Ad| f3 f|e2 fe|d4|Bd2 B|A4|BA FD|E4-|E2 DF| A3 B|A2 d2|Bd2 B|AB de|f4|ed ef|d4-|d2:|
THERE IS A FOUNTAIN. Irish, English, American; Air or March (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The hymn was written by the English poet William Cowper in the early 1770’s and was well-known throughout the British Isles, Ireland and North America from post-Revolutionary times through the 19th century. It begins:
There is a fountain filled with blood
That flows from Emmanuel's veins,
And those that wash beneath the flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, O Lord,
Lose all their guilty stains,]
And those that wash....
Jim Taylor (1996) finds two references to its popularity among Civil War soldiers, and notes that a great religious revival in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the Spring of 1863, reaching a peak in the Winter of 1863-64, during which thousands of soldiers were converted. The first reference is in a passage from a 1917 issue of Confederate Veteran Magazine:
J.M. Beadles, of Madison Run, Va., writes of almost unique incident of his war experience: In November, 1863, General Lee’s army moved into winter quarters on the south side of the Rapidan River. The Union Army moved up to the north side. The pickets on each side of the river were within speaking distance of each other. My command camped on the north side of Clark’s Mountain…While in camp our chaplain, Rev. Willie Ragland, preached very faithfully the gospel of Christ to our command, the 13th Virginia, that loved and honoured him as a servant of God. One of the converts, Goodwin, of Company A, of Orange Court- house, living in the lower part of the county, wished to be baptized in the Rapidan River; but the enemy was just on the other side and our officers feared that we might bring on trouble. But finally they gave their consent. We marched very scatteringly, about fifty strong; and the enemy, seeing that we had no arms, did not fire on us, but seemed greatly puzzled and watched us closely. As soon as we reached the water’s edge we began to sing that grand old hymn, ‘There is a fountain filled with blood,’ and at once the enemy began to leave their works and hasten to the riverside, and many voices in the Northern army joined in the song. Both armies were at peace as they witnessed the death of the old man into the resurrection of the new man through Jesus Christ our Lord.
A second Civil War reference comes from The Story of the Gospel Hymns (1906), by Ira Sankey:
A lieutenant in the Union army, having received his death-wound in a gallant charge at the head of the regiment, was visited in the hospital by the chaplain, who inquired how he felt. He said he had always been cheerful, and was now ready to meet God in peace. ‘Chaplain,’ he added, ‘I was passing through the streets of New York once on a Sunday night, and I heard singing, I went in and saw a company of poor people. They were singing ‘There is a fountain filled with blood.’ I was overpowered with the impression the hymn made upon me, and I gave my heart to God. Sing then I have loved Jesus, and I love Him now.’ That was his last speech.
