Henry D. L. Webster
Musician · d. 1896
Best known for
Songwriter
The Reverend Henry DeLafayette Webster was the lyricist of “Lorena” (1856), the parlor ballad of lost love that became one of the most-sung songs of the American Civil War on both sides of the lines — reportedly inspiring enough homesickness and desertion among Confederate troops that at least one officer banned its singing. The tune was set by Joseph Philbrick Webster (no relation).
Assisted by AI.
Spot something off? Help us fix it.
- Wrote “Lorena” in 1856 after a broken engagement to Ella Blocksom of Zanesville, Ohio; chose the three-syllable name “Lorena” after composer Joseph P. Webster asked for a name that fit the tune.
- Joseph P. Webster set the lyric to music and Higgins Brothers of Chicago published the song in 1857.
- “Lorena” spread across both the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War; one Confederate officer is said to have banned the song because it inspired homesickness and desertion among his troops.
- Many Confederate soldiers named their daughters Lorena in the years after the war.
- Later married and fathered four children; eventually settled in Chicago as the minister of a Unitarian congregation.
- Died in 1896 and is buried in Chicago.
