The orchestral/choral version of Charles Ives' late war song march "They Are There!" was the last new original work undertaken by Ives, dating from 1942. Although perhaps some material extant for the Universe Symphony may postdate it, Ives' deteriorating eyesight further precluded any new projects outside of approving or reviewing work done by his editors. Ives himself did not consider "They Are There!" a separate work as it was modeled from his 1917 song "He is There!" but clearly it is, as the words are significantly different, updated to fit the events of World War II. Ives made adjustments in the musical setting as well, both in the score of the voice and piano version and in the recordings he made of that incarnation in April 1943. In creating the version for unison chorus and orchestra of "They Are There!" sometime in 1942, editor Lou Harrison followed an orchestration made of "He is There!" in 1917, while scoring out the vocal line of the newer song for mostly unison chorus. Ives also added a five-measure coda to the choral/orchestral version that is not in the voice and piano version.

Ives' orchestration is violently busy with quotations of patriotic songs of various kinds, mostly dating from the Civil War era. Although an ardent pacifist, Ives clearly equated the international efforts of America soldiers in the two World Wars as being a continuation of the sacrifices of the American Civil War. In a letter to Lehman Engel, Ives dictated that "They Are There!" "is not a song for pretty voices—if the words are yelled out, regardless—so much the better."

Although Ives' 1942 text contains some of his most impassioned political views, Harrison's version for chorus and orchestra, which remained unpublished until 1961, is performed only seldom as such. Probably heard around 1944 under the direction of Engel, there is no known documentation regarding such a performance; the earliest verified hearing of "They Are There!" was given by the Danbury State Chorus in Danbury, CT, on March 25, 1966. In 1976, Ives editor James Sinclair published a version of "They Are There!" for band that makes the choral parts optional. This has become the standard version of "They Are There!" in all practical purposes, and is usually performed without the chorus.

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