The Negro student who brought this spiritual to his instructors at Hampton University shortly after the civil war reported that he had heard it sung at one of the secret midnight meetings held by the slaves in the pre-war days. The student states “I have heard my uncle sing this hymn and he told me how it was made. It was made by an old slave who knew nothing about letters or figures. He could not count the number of rails he would split when his master tasked him with splitting 150 a day. But he tried to lead a Christian life and he dreamed of the Great Judgment, and told his fellow-servants about it, and then made a tune to it and sung it in his camp-meetings."