“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is a lesser-known Christmas song, and not generally the first to be requested around the Christmas tree. The lyrics were born out of painful circumstances, but as with other classic hymns, the story behind the song gives it gravity and drives home the message of hope and the power of God’s marvelous plan. //

Longfellow was a staunch abolitionist, something that was proudly reflected in some of his writing. So, when the Civil War came, his oldest son, Charley, was eager to do his part. As a Second Lieutenant, Charley fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia, and narrowly dodged the Battle of Gettysburg by coming down with typhoid fever, writes Justin Taylor of the Gospel Coalition. He was back in the fight by August 1863, but Charley’s luck was running out.

Taylor writes that “While dining at home on December 1, 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received a telegram that his son had been severely wounded four days earlier. On November 27, 1863 … Charley was shot through the left shoulder, with the bullet exiting under his right shoulder blade.” Longfellow’s son survived his injury and was brought home to recover.

Longfellow found himself staring down another Christmas season as a widower, with five children dependent on him and now one child on the brink of death. Outside, he heard the Christmas bells ringing, but I imagine he could also hear the cannons and gunfire of war in his mind. The world was tearing itself apart. There didn’t seem to be much space for peace on earth or goodwill toward men. //

I think I love this song especially because it is raw and real. It’s a Christmas song that doesn’t cover up the world with holly and tinsel and say everything is just fine. Longfellow acknowledges that the world is broken, but he doesn’t leave it there. There’s more to the story, and that’s what makes the message of Jesus’ birth so joyful.