Lorena  

Composer J.P. Webster
Lyricist Rev. H.D.L. Webster
Year Published 1857
Type Somebody's Darling
Playing Time  
Comments "Another pre-Civil War song which achieved wide popularity during the conflict was this composition by the Reverend H.D.L. Webster and J.P. Webster, who were, incidentally, not related to each other.  For some reason, the song became a particular favorite of the Confederacy and, in time, came to be identified with the Southern cause.  Hundreds of Southern girls were named for the song's heroine, while several pioneer settlements and even a steamship proudly bore the name.  One Confederate veteran claimed to have 'heard it more during the war than any other song.'

"J.P. Webster, creator of the melody, was a close collaborator of S. Fillmore Bennett, with whom he wrote several Civil War songs... Their best-known work, however, was one of the most popular hymns of all time, 'Sweet By and By.'"

Songs of the Civil War. 119