Background
He was the son of Review William Patton and the grandson of Anglo-Irish Congregationalist immigrant and Revolutionary War Major Robert Patton.
He was the son of Review William Patton and the grandson of Anglo-Irish Congregationalist immigrant and Revolutionary War Major Robert Patton.
Graduated from the University City of New York, 1839, honorary Doctor of Laws, 1882. Graduate Union Theological Seminary, 1842. Honorary Doctor of Divinity Indiana Asbury (now DePauw) University, 1862.
Patton took an earnest part in the anti-slavery movement, and was chairman of the committee that presented to President Lincoln, 13 September 1862, the memorial from Chicago asking him to issue a proclamation of emancipation. In 1887, Patton read a paper before the Maryland Historical Society entitled "President Lincoln and the Chicago Memorial on Emancipation" recalling the actual dialogue with President Lincoln at that meeting in 1862. The original copy of that paper is held in the Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University.
He was vice-president of the Northwestern sanitary commission during the American Civil War, and as such repeatedly visited the eastern and western armies, publishing several pamphlet, reports.
In 1886 he went, on behalf of the freedmen, to Europe, where, and in the Orient, he remained nearly a year. John Brown"s Body
In October 1861 Patton wrote new lyrics to the battle song John Brown"s Body.
These were published in the Chicago Tribune on December 16, 1861. The third verse directly refers to the attack on the armory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Verse four compares John Brown to John the Baptist.
These themes were further refined two months later by Julia Ward Howe. Her version came to be known as The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Where Patton only wrote "of the Christ we are to see", Howe testified that her eyes had already "seen the glory of the coming of the Lord".
Patton graduated at the New York University in 1839 and at the Union theological seminary in 1842.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from DePauw University, Indiana, in 1864, and that of Doctor of Laws from the New York University in 1882. From 1867 till 1872 he was editor of The Advance in that city, and during 1874 he was lecturer on modern skepticism at Oberlin, Ohio, and Chicago theological seminaries.
Member American Board Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1869-1889.
Married Sarah Jane Mott, January 11, 1843. Married second, Mary Boardman Smith, 1851.