Bishop's story of the genesis of the song is that it grew out of a conversation with his brother-in-law around 1858, who "took me to task, remarking that my songs were all written for the devil.
Writer John J. MacIntyre's 1916 short book, The Composer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, about Bishop's songs, appears to be written largely based on Bishop's self-reporting to MacIntyre many years after the fact.