During the Civil War, a small number of Union soldiers under General John Corse were asked to hold an important supply line position at Allatoona Pass in Georgia. The weary and battered soldiers were determined not to be ousted from their position and give supplies to the enemy.

The Confederates, on the other hand, needed to capture that supply depot. Their leader, General Hood, sent an entire division to take it. When the Confederates called for the Union force to surrender, General Corse refused.

Each attack was beaten back. Corse himself, wounded, wondered how long they could hold on. Then he got the message from General Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, 13 miles away: "Hold the fort, for we are coming."

Renewed in body and in spirit, the Union soldiers valiantly held on. The Confederates finally fell back. A man named Phillip Bliss read the story and was inspired to write a song for the church, a song which would encourage the saints to remain faithful in their place of duty against Satan's attacks.

Bliss never intended his song to be taken as lack of aggression. He meant for it to be a call to duty, a call to sacrifice, a call to victory. His classic chorus has this lyric: "Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus signals still. Wave the answer back to Heaven, By thy grace we will."