John Henry Hewitt (1801-1890) was born in New York City. He received early musical training from his father who was a composer and the director of the Park Theatre orchestra. He was appointed to West Point and studied music at the Academy. After graduating, he joined his father’s orchestra then with a troupe that toured the South, settling in Augusta, Georgia. He taught music in Georgia and South Carolina. He also wrote poetry and established a newspaper in Greenville, South Carolina. Upon his father’s death, he returned to Boston and worked for the Massachusetts Journal. Since his sentiments leaned toward the South, he moved and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. He established himself as a writer, publisher, and composer. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he went south to Richmond, Virginia, and Savannah, Georgia, where he taught music, wrote literary works and edited papers. After the war, he taught music at various places including Stauton, Virginia; Augusta, Georgia; and at Western Female College in Hampden, Virginia. Late in life, he returned to Baltimore and taught music and wrote literary works. He wrote dramas, melo-dramas, comedies, farces, satires, many poems and stories. He composed an oratorio, six operas and operettas, some part-songs, and many popular ballads. He used pseudonyms Eugene Raymon (topical songs), Colonel Marcus Kennedy (ballads), and Jenks (comical poems).

All are mixed chorus unless noted; some contain divisi.