Civil War heroine Arabella Barlow, born in Somerville in 1824, a great-granddaughter of the Wallace family of Wallace House who hosted George Washington’s winter headquarters and Hardenbergh family of Old Dutch Parsonage who served in New Jersey’s Provincial Congress and Militia in the Revolutionary War, offers one of the “mystic chords of memory” uniting New Jersey’s contributions to the United States from the American Revolution to the Civil War.

For Arabella Barlow’s 200th Birthday, hear the recruiting songs that urged young men to sign up to fight, the anthems that inspired them and the musical complaints about the food and conditions they endured such as “Army Beans”, “Hard Crackers, Come Again No More” and “Goober Peas”. Historical musician and balladeer Linda Russell also includes the ballads about the yearning for home and the loved ones left behind.

Admission is free. Bring your own lawn chairs and blankets for this outdoors performance.

This program is part of a series made possible the Wallace House and Old Dutch Parsonage Association with the sponsorship of New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this series do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.