My band ShoreGrass recorded this song at a live concert in 2003, and released the full Songs of the Civil War Era CD with this liner note about "Battle Cry of Freedom":

3. Battle Cry of Freedom (George F. Root, 1862) 1:59 George Root was a prolific writer from Sheffield, MA who wrote this widely popular song in 1862. It was parodied and also sung in the South in 1864. Both North ("union forever") and South ("rights forever") versions are sung here. Vocals: Frank Shaw (North), Paul Pozzi (South), Barbara Shaw (harmony).

My source for this information was Irwin Silber's excellent book "Songs of the Civil War." He wrote several paragraphs about the song and its history.

Here's a sample of our recording of it on Amazon, with a bit of the North and a bit of the South version: Battle Cry of Freedom