19th Century ABB – The Americus Brass Band

History of the Americus Brass Band
in the 19th Century

By
Dr. Benny Pryor Ferguson,
Doctoral Dissertation – The Bands of the Confederacy: An Examination of the Musical and Military Contributions of the Bands and Musicians of the Confederate States of America, Phd North Texas State University, 1987.
And
Dr. Richard Birkemeier
Prof. Emeritus
Bob Cole Conservatory of Music
California State University, Long Beach
Musical Director, Americus Brass Band (1988 – 2019).

Dedicated to Bob Wiebe, the modern Americus Brass band’s founder and original historian. (Yep, that’s Bob, leading the charge!)

Forward

The Civil War is certainly one of the most studied conflicts in history. Civil War historians have analyzed every battle, researched the lives of all the important combatants and in general, spilled gallons of ink on every subject related to this seminal conflict that could possibly be spilled, right? Wrong! There was one very important part of this bloody war that has received little attention from scholars, the regimental brass bands that were so important in maintaining the morale of the soldiers, on both sides. The standard histories of the conflict almost completely ignore the brass bands and only a couple of books, well researched thank goodness, are dedicated to the bands and bandsmen of the war.¹ Yet, there were approximately 155 bands and 2400 bandsmen in the service of the Confederate armies alone!² And with the exception of the Stonewall Brigade Band and the 26th North Carolina Band, no other Confederate band has received more than brief mention in any of these histories.

Then along came Benny Ferguson. Back in 1987, while a doctoral student at North Texas State University, he devoted his PhD dissertation to documenting the most important bands of the Confederacy, and included among them was the 4th Georgia Band, better known as the Americus Brass Band. Unfortunately, Dr. Ferguson’s superb history languished in the NTSU library and later, on the internet, until I found it on-line, just a couple of years ago. I was astounded! Having spent decades researching the history of the Americus Brass Band, and building on the work that our founder Bob Wiebe had done back in the 1970s (on his honeymoon, no less), I still had very little. It turned out that Benny Ferguson had already done the work and all the information that I was looking for was right there, in his dissertation. So with his blessing, I am including large sections of his dissertation in this monograph and designating him the principal author. Thank you Dr. Ferguson!

The early Americus Brass Band
Richard Birkemeier’s contribution.

The city of Americus Georgia, the seat of Sumter County, was a good sized city in an important cotton producing area of central Georgia at the time of the Civil War. The arrival of the railroad a decade earlier had created a population explosion and the growing city felt it needed a brass band to announce to the world that it “had arrived.” There were several musicians in Americus and they included William Erdman, Prof. of Music at Furlow Female College and John Willey, a piano teacher. Neither Erdman nor Willey seemed willing to take on the challenge of starting a band so Americus looked out of town for a band leader. In 1860, they were fortunate to obtain the services of a very talented young cornetist who was at that time, touring with the Old Hundred Concert troupe out of Montgomery, Alabama³ and his name was Louis Zitterbart (1838(9?) – 1899). Zitterbart was born in Bohemia into what must have been a very musical family. Louis was already an accomplished professional musician as a young teenager when in 1853, the family immigrated to the United States. They settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, the home of an uncle(?) Fidelus Zitterbart Sr. (1805 – 1887), a well-known professional violinist and composer who was said to have toured the US with Jenny Lind in 1850.⁴ Louis immediately began to work as a professional musician in Pittsburgh but within a couple of years, left town to seek his fortune in the south.

Louis (Loui as he was called) Zitterbart arrived in Americus in May of 1860 and quickly set about organizing a brass band for the town. Unfortunately, no evidence exists that documents his first year on the job, but a typical town band of that era, usually supported by the local business leaders, hired a so-called “Professor” whose job it was to recruit and train the musicians. Most of these new “musicians” had no formal training yet were expected to learn to play their instruments and to read music – at least on a rudimentary level. The band’s instrumentation was all brass instruments and drums and the instruments and performance venues were usually provided by the town.⁵ In many towns, the local fire brigade made up the bulk of the musicians but in Americus before the Civil War, the bandsmen came from a broad cross-section of the community. They were all adults, all male and of course all white.

By May 1861, just a year after they formed, the band was ready for its official debut and a flurry of announcements in the local press trumpeted that fact proudly across central Georgia. On May 3, 1861, the Americus newspaper, The Sumter Republican, published the following in classified advertisement:

AMERICUS BRASS BAND: This band, under the leadership and direction of Prof. Zitterbart take pleasure in announcing to their friends and the public generally, that they are now prepared to furnish music for public and private parties such as Military Parades, Masonic, Sabbath School and other celebrations: Public Speaking, Pic-nics, Serenades, etc.

“Prof. Z., having been engaged for several years in teaching and directing Military and Orchestra Bands, the Americus Brass Band feel confident that under his direction, they can guarantee perfect satisfaction to all who may require their services.

Terms reasonable and made known on application to J. W. Wheatley, Sec. (The article goes on to mention that) Zitterbart has moved to Americus “permanently” and will “devote a portion of his time” to teaching music and repairing pianos.⁶

Despite the date of the previous announcement, the band seems to have already been performing in public, most often on the courthouse Square at a bandstand constructed especially for it. “The courthouse was surrounded by an octangular picket fence and everything was fine and imposing. The citizens then erected a platform inside the fence, on which the Americus Brass band sat and discoursed its brazen strains every Wednesday evening.”⁷ And as the Civil War loomed ever closer that spring, the band was also called upon to provide appropriate martial music for the local militia companies that were forming in Americus. In April, they even accompanied a local militia unit, the Sumter Light Guards, to Augusta, Georgia to enlist in the Confederate Army. On May 1st of 1861, the Augusta Daily Chronicle and Sentinel Newspaper published the following:

AMERICUS BRASS BAND: This excellent band, organized in May 1860, and which came here with the Sumter Light Guards, has afforded our citizens great satisfaction during their sojourn in the city, by the music they have given us. They are capital performers. On Tuesday evening they played a musical melange upon the bell tower, and the sweet harmony elicited was the theme of general remark and commendation. We regret that their engagements rendered it necessary for them to return to Americus Tuesday night and hope that we shall enjoy a visit from them again at no distant day.⁸

Finally, the article provides a complete listing of the musicians in the band and the instruments that they played. Led by Louis (spelled “Loui” in the article) Zitterbart on Eb cornet, the band used two additional Eb cornets (one called an “Eb soprano” in the article) played by W. W. Ford and W. C. P. Cleghorn, one Bb cornet played by L. A. Smith, two alto horns (called Bb Altos in the article but almost certainly pitched in Eb) played by J. W. Wheatley and P. S. Twitty, two tenor horns played by Sam Dunlap and James C. Ford, a baritone played by John Willey, a tuba played by John Lamon and three drummers, Pat Sims, Charles M. Wheatley and Dick Cleghorn.⁹ In the same issue of The Sumter Republican mentioned above, the editor, Charles Hancock, stated that the band would in fact, be joining the Sumter Light Guards as the regimental band. He also lauded their performances in Augusta calling them “the best band in the state.”¹⁰

At the beginning of the Civil War, town bands all over America enlisted in the armies both north and south in support of their local troops. Every regiment was allowed a band and it was a source of great pride for both the town and the soldiers. The Americus Brass Band was no exception and as a group, they endeavored to enlist in the Confederate Army as the regimental band of the 4th Georgia Volunteers. However, the band’s path into uniform was not without dissent.

The Sumter Light Guards of Americus

The 1st tenor horn player, Sam Dunlap, seems to have had second thoughts about joining the army, at least as a member of the band. There were several letters published in The Sumter Republican that spring that exposed a rift that formed in the band over their enlistment plans. The band sought to join the 4th Georgia regiment with the Sumter Light Guards, and the entire group signed a letter to its commander, Col. George Doles, informing him of that fact. However, when it came time to report:

Sam Dunlap’s military ardor had completely cooled down, and his patriotic fervor was succeeded by a traitorous chill. He at once, began to raise objections. ‘He didn’t feel like throwing away his time, and blowing a horn…’ On the day before they left for camp, the band performed a farewell Concert and Dunlap was ‘informed that he must decide and let us (them) know before the concert, whether he was going or not.’

He said “yes” he would go and evidently played the concert, but when the band reported the next morning, Dunlap was nowhere to be found. The fallout from this debacle was revealing concerning the duties the band would be expected to perform in uniform. By long established military custom, bandsmen were considered to be non-combatants. But the above-mentioned letter writer, probably the newspaper editor Charles Hancock, goes on to write:

Another objection that this Mr. Dunlap gives for not joining the band to the seat of war is, that ‘we want fighting men now, and not musicians.’ This I consider a stigma upon the brave and patriotic men who compose the Americus Brass Band… This band is not here for the purpose merely of making music, but when we are called out on the battlefield, they will be found with musket in hand, as any other member of the regiment, fighting in defense of the sunny South.¹¹

Sam Dunlap does not appear in any later roster of the band and the day after their final concert in Americus, April 23, 1861, the band set out for camp Jackson to begin their military service.

Most of the rest of this history is transcribed from the PhD dissertation of
Dr. Benny Pryor Ferguson,
used with his knowledge and permission.
(Parenthetical inserts are from Richard Birkemeier)

The Americus Brass Band were officially accepted as the Fourth Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regimental Band and plans were made for the musicians to travel to Virginia to join their friends and compatriots, who were now mustered into the Confederate service.¹² The Americus newspaper reported the appointment of the band as the Fourth Regimental Band on May 17, 1861.¹³ Unlike modern military units, the expenses of the band were not provided by the Confederate authorities. In order to raise the funds necessary to provide provisions, equipment, and passage to Virginia, the bandsmen were left to their own ingenuity to find the money. The Sumter Republican announced that the band would play a concert to raise the necessary funds on Wednesday evening, May 22, 1861, and would depart for the front the following day.¹⁴ (The afore-mentioned incident with Sam Dunlap occurred at this time.)

The band reported for duty at Camp Jackson. The camp had been established at Hampton Roads, Virginia only a few days before the musicians arrived and the bandsmen were appreciated almost as much for their musical performances as for the packages and letters they brought from home for the soldiers of the regiment.¹⁵ Any time local men were known to be traveling to the front, letters were sent to friends and relatives from those at home. Private Jack Felder of the Sumter Light Guards, now Company K, received a letter from his brother carried by one of the members of the band. The concert performed for the men of the Fourth Georgia Regiment by the new regimental band must have been quite good, as Felder reports, “we had a very exciting time the night the band came.”¹⁶ The position of the encampment at Hampton Roads was a scenic one. It was situated “… opposite Newport News and Fortress Monroe and between Pigs Point and Cramy Island, eight miles from Norfolk…”¹⁷

The regiment was stationed at Camp Jackson for an unusually long period, nearly a year, and the Fourth Georgia Regimental Band was at full strength, with twelve men assigned as musicians. Not all of those who were members of the original Americus Brass Band remained when it enlisted. Dick Cleghorn, cymbals, Samuel Dunlap, tenor horn, and J. W. Wheatley, alto horn, did not enlist and there is no record of these men having ever served in the military.¹⁸

Prof. Wm. Erdman, (composer of “the Sumter Light Guard March”) was conspicuously missing from rosters of the Americus Brass Band, but he was very actively involved as a Confederate soldier. Erdman enlisted as a musician with the 11th Georgia Battalion, Company A. This unit was as much the pride of Americus and Sumter County as the Sumter Light Guards. Erdman distinguished himself as a soldier, and became known in local folklore as “the best bugler in Lee’s army.”¹⁹

Over the next few weeks in camp, the 4th Georgia band was augmented by men from other companies of the regiment. The band, which numbered thirteen pieces in late April at Augusta, was expanded to eighteen men in late May.²⁰ During the year-long encampment of the Fourth Georgia Regiment at Camp Jackson, the routine of camp life provided the band much time to practice and improve their musical skills in addition to the many hours spent performing for drills and parades.

When not involved in military duties the Fourth Georgia Regimental Band became a favorite with both the Confederate military and the civilians of the area as they performed. Occasionally, a young Confederate soldier was fortunate enough to be allowed to escape the monotony of camp life to accompany the musicians of the band on their concert trips to town. Jack Felder wrote about his trip with the band to a concert in Norfolk, Virginia.

I will write you again soon and I am in hopes that I will have something to interest you as I expect to go to Norfolk Thursday night with the Band which will give a concert. I will give you a full history of it on my return.²¹

On December 20, 1861, the Fourth Georgia Band lost its first member when (the Rev.) W. C. P. Cleghorn was discharged from the army because he was over the maximum age allowed for service. Several additional personnel changes took place in the band late in 1861 through May, 1862, which dramatically changed the organization. Snare drummer Pat B. Sims was promoted to 3rd Sergeant in early 1862, and Peter Twitty, baritone horn player, was appointed First Sergeant of Company K. Both subsequently left the band. Second B flat tenor horn player William Ford received a disability discharge on May 2, 1862.²²

On May 9, 1862, the “soldier editor” of Company K, Charles Hancock, left the service. Mustered out of the army through a disability discharge, Hancock was probably not missed as a soldier, especially since he missed so many drills to write home. But the letters he wrote to the Americus newspaper, (The Sumter Republican) were an invaluable source of information for the families and friends of the soldiers as well as modern historians and scholars. His interest in the Fourth Georgia Band resulted in some mention of them in most of his letters.²³ As the first members of the band were mustered out of the unit, only one new musician, Henry C. Pettee, formerly Fifth Sergeant of Company G, was assigned to the band.²⁴

During most of the war, the Fourth Georgia Regimental Band was an ensemble of fourteen or fifteen pieces. The strength of the band never again equaled the eighteen men present at Camp Jackson.²⁵ The Fourth Georgia Regiment was part of the Doles-Cook Brigade which also included the Twelfth, Twenty-fourth, and Forty-fourth Georgia Regiments. Other than field bands of fifers and drummers which were assigned to companies of the various regiments, the Fourth Georgia Band was the only band in the brigade.²⁶ One such field band was assigned to Company K, the Sumter Light Guards, the home company of the band. The trio of slave musicians, fifer, snare drummer, and bass drummer, is plainly pictured in the only known photo of the Sumter Light Guards taken in Augusta, Georgia in April, 1861. (see photo on p. 3)

(So what were the band’s duties during the war? Unfortunately, there are no known diaries or letters from 4th Georgia bandsmen that describe their regular duties during the war. But there are letters and diaries from musicians in another Confederate band that also served in the Army of Northern Virginia, the 26th North Carolina Band from Salem, NC. The following is Benny Ferguson’s description (pp. 304-305) of a typical Sunday’s duties as related in a letter from one of the musicians and a description of the battlefield duties of the bandsmen. — Birkemeier)

The regular Sunday schedule of military activities was staggering for the musicians who were obliged to perform numerous times for military ceremonies and functions. (26th North Carolina bandsman) Edward Peterson described a typical Sunday in a letter to his niece.

The 26th North Carolina Band

I must give you some idea how we spend our Sundays. We get up about 6, take breakfast about 1/2 past 6, at 1/2 past 7 the drum beats for guard mounting… After that we have inspection of arms, the band played continuously for both guard mounting and inspection of arms, which takes about 3/4 of an hour. In the evening at 1/2 past five dress parade comes off. At this we play about 4 pieces. In the evening after. supper we generally play a few pieces for the benefit of the Colonel… you can now imagine what our occupation is in the week, every guard mounting at 1/2 past 7 & in the evening at 1/2 past 5 dress parade, unless when on a march.²⁷

This rigorous schedule was obviously not kept during battles or while on forced marches but was probably necessary to keep the tedium of camp life from interfering with military discipline. (In battle, as non-combatants the bandsmen served as medics and stretcher bearers with the hospital corps. — Birkemeier) From an elevated vantage point behind the Confederate lines, (Julius Leinbach), a bandsman watched the action until they were called to attend the wounded in the battlefield hospitals.²⁸ Later in the war, the bandsmen had been assisting with complicated surgery in field hospitals for so long that most of them felt that they could perform many of the operations without help from the physicians. Julius Leinbach felt that he had learned enough to perform a major surgical operation. (Ferguson p. 361)

We had considerable experience in giving first aid to the wounded and I for one got myself to believe that I could amputate a man’s leg as well as some of the doctors having so often helped in the several processes… There were no antiseptics used.²⁹

On May 10, the Doles-Cook Brigade moved from Petersburg through Richmond near where the Battle of Seven Pines was in progress. The battle ended before the brigade was needed, and camp was made in the earthworks along the battlefield. When the first major action did come, the toll was heavy for all the units involved. The battle of Malvern Hill was a particularly bloody one for the Confederates, with Colonel George Doles (later General) and Lt. Colonel Philip Cook (later General) both wounded. There is no specific mention of the role of the band in the battle. Fourth Georgia musicians, however, must have been in the middle of the action since bandsmen James C. Ford and Washington W. Garner were both wounded on July 1, 1862 during the Malvern Hill battles.³⁰ (Again, evidence that the 4th Georgia bandsmen were considered combatants and fought regularly — Birkemeier)

During the late summer and fall of 1862, the Fourth Georgia Regiment was involved in battles near Orange Court House, Virginia, and again in the heavy fighting in the Battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland.³¹ On April 29, 1863, the Fourth Georgia Regiment left the relative comfort of its winter camp as the spring campaigns of 1863 were initiated. On May 18, 1863, shortly before the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania, all regiments under General Rodes participated in a grand review. The review was led by the Fourth Georgia Regiment with its band in front followed by the “whole division at 2 o’clock to be reviewed by General Roads [sic].³²“

It was during the long marches of the 1863 campaigns that the reputation for musical excellence of the Fourth Georgia Band was earned. Veterans of the units that served with the Doles-Cook Brigade remembered the Georgia musicians for their lively music played during forced marches. One of the most exhausting series of forced marches of the entire War Between the States took place as the Confederate armies made their way through Union territory toward Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Henry Thomas remembered the band music as Rodes’ Division marched through Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. One of the bands to which he refers is his own brigade’s Fourth Georgia Band.

On the 24th, starting early, we passed through Chambersburg, with bands at the head of the regiments playing Dixie and other Southern airs, arms at the right-shoulder-shift, the boys stepping out lively to the music, laughing, and shouting to the gloomy-faced citizens, “Here’s your played out rebellion.³³”

The Confederates had been ordered to take the eastern route through Hagerstown, Maryland, Greencastle, Chambersburg, and Carlisle, Pennsylvania. At Carlisle, the soldiers turned south through Petersburg, Pennsylvania, and on to Gettysburg.³⁴ Late June of 1863 was very dry and hot. Thousands of men marching on dirt roads, officers on horseback, and provision wagons pulled by teams of horses raised thick clouds of dust that could be seen for miles. The heat and dust exacted a heavy price on the soldiers. And at one of the stops just past Petersburg, Pennsylvania, General Lee noticed the weary condition of his troops. He commanded Colonel Taylor, Col. Walter Taylor of Lee’s staff, to order the Fourth Georgia Regimental Band to the front of the march to play for the men. C. D. Grace, a Confederate soldier, witnessed the incident.

The music had a most exhilarating effect, and off marched the men, inspired by the presence of the generals and the strains of “Tom March On” by the band. I never saw anything so magical in its effect. We made Heidlersburg before dark, where we bivouacked for the night.³⁵

The effects of both the attention of the officers and the music of the Fourth Georgia Band must have really worked because thousands of Confederate soldiers and their equipment trains made the five mile trek that afternoon in time to set up camp before nightfall. Veterans of the Doles-Cook Brigade claimed that they were the first Confederate troops to enter the town of Gettysburg in July, 1863. If this claim is true, the Fourth Georgia Bandsmen became the first to enter Gettysburg because they were known to have been at the head of the column of troops on the forced march to the city.

Casualties for the Doles-Cook Brigade were heavy during the Gettysburg campaign. And the ranks of the Fourth Georgia Band grew thinner as well with the loss of Henry Pettee. On July 4, 1863, Pettee was captured by Union soldiers and became a prisoner of war. His service record does not indicate whether or not he was wounded but states that he was discharged at Fort Delaware, Delaware, on August 25, 1863. There is no later record for Henry Pettee. It is possible that he returned to the service after his discharge from the prison camp, but he did not return to the Fourth Georgia Band.³⁶ (Thomas just lists him as “dead”³⁷ and does not include his name in the band roster on page 96. — Birkemeier)

After retreating from Pennsylvania through Maryland, the Fourth Georgia Regiment made preparations for the coming winter by making camp near Orange Court House, Virginia, with many other Confederate units of the Army of Northern Virginia. The winter was remembered by veterans as bitterly cold, and according to a member of the Forty-fourth Georgia Regiment, “we were great sufferers from exposure,”³⁸ even though the men constructed log cabins complete with fireplaces. As cold as the winter was, there was still time for some outdoor activity. The Georgia troops engaged themselves in snowball battles with their Virginia compatriots. There were occasions when officers led their men in mock battles with all the military trappings, including music by the regimental bands.³⁹

During winter encampments, most Confederate units authorized furloughs for those men who qualified through loyal service during the past year. Band units were often allowed to go home as a group, and they usually performed for the local citizens while on leave. The Fourth Georgia Regimental Band was allowed to return to Americus on furlough in January of 1864. On January 22, the public was made aware that the band was home and that they were preparing to perform for the public during their visit. The importance of the occasion can be judged by the fact that the Americus newspaper printed a large notice in the advertisement section and also printed an editorial article by Charles Hancock which appeared on the front page.

The Brass Band attached to General Doles’ brigade, many of whom belonged to the original Brass Band of Americus, has arrived and will give a grand concert Saturday night at the College Chapel. They richly deserve a full house, and let them have it. And we know of no surer way to secure it than for every man in town to be sure to go, and take two ladies with him.⁴⁰

Hancock had been a member of the Sumter Light Guards when the band enlisted and remained a loyal fan of the musicians. Other former soldiers helped with publicity, including William W. Ford, a former member of the band who was discharged from the army in 1862. Ford helped to arrange the concert and placed the notice in the newspaper announcing the concert.⁴¹ The musicians hoped to raise money for needed supplies and to help defray costs encountered on their leave. A $2.00 admission charge was levied, with children and servants admitted at half price.⁴² The program was billed as “A Grand Musical Entertainment” by “The Brass Band.” B. W. Smith, a local businessman (maybe the brother of Lewis A. Smith in the band? — Birkemeier) who owned two businesses, sold tickets for the concert at both locations. Ford includes a short plea for a good crowd and a personal endorsement for the musicians.

The members of the brass band, after remaining in service nearly three years, are happy to announce to the citizens of Sumter County that they have received a short furlough to come home, and will give their friends a chance to enjoy some good music. Come one. Come all. And you shall have worth of your money.⁴³

The concert was a great success, drawing a large and appreciative audience which packed the auditorium. Charles Hancock reviewed the program in his newspaper. Hancock’s review appeared on January 30, 1864.

The Brass Band belonging to the Fourth Georgia Regiment honored our citizens on last Saturday night with one of their rich and interesting musical entertainments. The spacious College Chapel was filled to its utmost. It was a complete success and all in the house were highly delighted with the evening’s entertainment. The performers won for themselves the good opinion of our entire community, and well do they deserve it, for a more noble, generous, and gentlemanly band of amateurs, can’t be found anywhere.⁴⁴

The members of the Fourth Georgia Band returned to their winter camp where they remained through April of 1864. The war renewed as the weather became warmer, and another series of battles began in May, 1864. On May 8, 1864, the Doles-Cook Brigade suffered a tremendous loss of men in the battle of Spotsylvania. According to M. V. B. Estes, who participated in the battle, a “battle of the bands” took place on May 10, 1864 in the evening after the bloody battle. The soldiers were not sure whether there would be more fighting that evening, so they remained awake in their earthworks. Although Estes does not identify the bands involved, the Fourth Georgia Band was actually the brigade band for the Doles-Cook Brigade. Because there were no other regimental bands in the unit, it was probably the Confederate band in the story. The fact that this band was near the brigade headquarters occupied by Estes lends credibility to the assumption that the band involved was indeed the Fourth Georgia.

When night closed in on us, we were back in our breastworks all awake and ready for a renewal of the engagement at any moment, for we knew the battle had not been fought to a finish. By midnight our wounded had been moved off the field, leaving only the dead of both armies scattered in front and rear of our breastworks. The situation was a sad one, and to vary the monotony a little, a Confederate band moved up to an elevated position on the line and played “Nearer My God to Thee.” The sound of this beautiful piece of music had scarcely died away when a Yankee band over the line gave us the “Dead March.” This was followed by the Confederate band playing “The Bonnie Blue Flag.” As the last notes were wafted out on the crisp night air a grand old style rebel yell went up. The Yankee band then played “The Star Spangled Banner,” when it seemed, by the responsive yell, that every man in the Union Army of the Potomac was awake and listening to the music. The Confederate band then rendered “Home, Sweet Home,” when a united yell went up in concert from the men on both sides such a one as was never heard among the hills of Spotsylvania County before or since.⁴⁵

Why Estes failed to identify the Confederate band as the Fourth Georgia is unknown. Since the accounts of his regimental history were written for Henry Thomas’ book more than forty years after the incident, he may simply have forgotten, or perhaps he did not think the identity of the band was important enough to mention.

The Fourth Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regimental Band participated in the remaining year of the Civil War with their regiment and brigade and suffered several losses. Of the remaining bandsmen, James C. Ford was captured on July 13, 1864 near Washington, D. C., and Ansler Stern was captured at the Battle of Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864.⁴⁶ Bandmaster Louis Zitterbart was seriously wounded while on duty as a bugler. According to his service record, Zitterbart was severely wounded during the Virginia Valley campaign in 1864. The bandmaster was also chief musician for the Fourth Georgia Regiment and the Doles-Cook Brigade. Zitterbart also served on occasion as a field musician and was serving as bugler for brigade sharpshooters when he was wounded. He recovered from his wounds enough to return to duty with the band in late 1864. John Lemon, the band’s tuba player, was captured at Farmville, Virginia, on April 6, 1865, only three days before Lee’s surrender. John J. McCants evaded the Yankees until April 20, 1865, getting as far south as Forsyth, Georgia, just a few miles north of Macon, before being captured.⁴⁷

The band was with the Fourth Regiment when Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865 and six bandsmen are listed on the surrender roll. David C. Freeman, James G. Hester, William Harwell, James R. Harwell, Lewis A. Smith, and Henry Westheimer were paroled at the surrender.⁴⁸

There is no mention of the surrender or capture of Louis Zitterbart, Henry Gecks, or C. A. Kendrick (also listed as Hendrick on some rolls). They may have left the unit in the confusion that resulted after the Battle of Petersburg, or they may have not been included through faulty record keeping at the time of the surrender.

Four of the Fourth Georgia bandsmen were wounded during the war, and five were taken prisoner by the enemy. (Again, evidence that the 4th Georgia bandsmen were considered combatants and fought regularly.⁴⁹)

The Fourth Georgia Band served the Confederacy from April of 1862 until the final day of the war.⁵⁰ Most of the musicians returned to their homes in the Americus area after the war and took up their former occupations while reverting to the status of amateur musicians of the Americus Brass Band. Louis Zitterbart did not return to Sumter County with the band and instead returned to (Pittsburg), Pennsylvania. The last day of official Confederate service for the Fourth Georgia Regimental Band is listed in several sources as April 9, 1865, the date of the surrender at Appomattox.

The Americus Brass Band continued after the war and in 1866 was under the direction of one of the band’s biggest supporters during its founding in 1860. The leader of the ensemble was Confederate veteran and former bugler for Cutts’ Flying Artillery, William Erdman.⁵¹ Erdman, with his wife, continued to operate a school of music, teaching voice, piano, strings, wind instruments, and percussion. The Wednesday evening concerts in the Courthouse square were resumed, and there was an occasional performance on the lawn of Colonel C. T. Furlow’s home. By 1869, the popularity of the band was as high as before the war, and the band boasted fourteen members and a new leader. There is no record of Erdman’s departure as bandmaster or reasons for the change. Six of the members were veterans of the Confederate band. Veteran John Lemon (also spelled Leamon) was the organization’s president, and veteran Peter Twitty served as band secretary. The new bandmaster, (W. E. Pound,) lived in Columbus, Georgia, and traveled to Americus each week to teach instrumental music and to hold rehearsals and concerts with the band.⁵²

Fourteen men were affiliated with the Americus Brass Band in 1869: Professor W. E. Pound, 1st Eb cornet and Bandmaster; W. A. Palmer, 2nd Eb cornet; *William C. P. Cleghorn, 3rd Eb cornet and piccolo; B. W. Peterson, 1st Bb cornet; Charles Hawkins, 2nd Bb cornet; *Louis A. Smith, 1st Eb alto horn; Sam Fogle, 2nd Eb alto horn; C. P. Foster, 1st Bb tenor horn; Louis Cohen, 2nd Bb tenor horn; *Peter S. Twitty, baritone horn and Secretary; *John R. Lemon, Leamon2 Eb tuba; and President *Pat B. Sims, snare drum; *Henry Westheimer, bass drum; W. P. Laramore, cymbals.

* Veterans of the Fourth Georgia Regimental Band.⁵³

In addition to the Wednesday evening programs, the Americus Brass Band performed other programs as well to the delight of the citizens of the city. Any departure from the regular concert schedule was noted in the local newspaper, now named The Tri-Weekly Republican.

“We are requested to state that the Brass Band will entertain the city with a few pieces of choice music Friday afternoon at 5 o’clock, from their stand in the Court House yard. Good!⁵⁴”

This version of the Americus Brass Band, while popular with local citizens, lasted only about four years. In 1872 the band was reorganized and continued much as before. New members were added to the group as the original members of the band became too old to continue or lost interest.⁵⁵

Another reorganization took place in 1879 after the band had been inactive for several years. One of the problems that had plagued the musicians was the lack of a suitable bandmaster in the Americus area who possessed the necessary qualifications and enthusiasm to revitalize the town band. That problem was solved when a new musician moved to town in June of 1879.⁵⁶

The local newspaper announced that the brass band was being organized under the direction of Professor Carl Schneider, instructor of music at Furlow Masonic Academy. Two original Americus Brass Bandsmen were part of the new group. C. M. Wheatley, the band’s first bass drummer and Civil War Veteran Quartermaster’s Secretary of the Fourth Georgia Regiment, and John R. Lemon, original tuba player, former band president, and veteran of the Fourth Georgia Band, were listed among the twelve names.⁵⁷

Brass bands continued to be popular in southwest Georgia through the turn of the century. During the 1880’s, the Americus Brass Band was quite competitive. The ensemble entered many brass band contests throughout the South and usually earned high scores. Money was raised for uniforms and equipment on several occasions, and the city of Americus continued to support the instrumental music that began in 1860.⁵⁸

(Two additional brass bands appeared in Americus in the 1880s. An “Americus Colored Brass band” was mentioned in The Sumter Republican on Sept. 22, 1882 in conjunction with its performance at a VIP arrival at the train station.

On Tuesday Afternoon on the arrival of the train, the Hon. Alex H. Stephens (former vice president of the CSA and governor of Georgia) was met at the depot by (a) Committee of citizens… A procession was then formed, headed by Marshals of the Day. Next came the Americus Colored Brass Band and then the Americus Light Infantry, escorting the honored gentleman…⁵⁹

In addition, the Americus Daily Times Recorder, reporting on a Confederate Army reunion held in Americus in 1889 wrote the following:

Tuesday night the trains from Columbus and Macon brought in a large number of old army veterans, who were met at the depot by the reception committee and Wide-Awakes band… The band marched around the square at ten o’clock and returned to the stand in the court house yard and soon the speaking commenced.⁶⁰

(The Wide-Awakes were the volunteer firemen of Americus. — Birkemeier)

The name of the Americus Brass Band changed to the Americus Silver Cornet Band in 1894 when a former resident of Americus began commuting from Macon to lead the ensemble. Professor Kaler, leader of Kaler’s Brass Band of Macon, was an instructor and performer who enjoyed celebrity status in middle and southern Georgia.⁶¹

The Wide-Awakes firemen of Americus

Instrumental music declined in the early 1900’s in Americus for a few years until public opinion spurred by newspaper editorials called attention to the fact that the lack of a band in the Americus area was deplorable. On July 17, 1911, the editor of the Americus newspaper lamented the decline of the brass bands in an editorial entitled, “Americus Needs a Brass Band.”⁶² By this time, most of the veterans of the Confederate Fourth Georgia Band were dead or too old to perform with a band. The original members of the Americus Brass Band and most of the second generation of bandsmen were gone. There was little connection made between the band that was organized in 1860 and the competitive community bands of the late 1890’s in the minds of most residents of Sumter County.

The contribution of the original Americus Brass Bandsmen, and those who served in the Fourth Georgia Band, was the building of a tradition of band music that was revived several times because of community effort even after dormant periods. The contributions of the Americus bands to the community were realized by Sumter County leaders just as military leaders came to realize the importance of the Fourth Georgia Band during the Civil War.

In the twentieth century, new instrumental programs were started in Americus and Sumter County which provided band music for the area until the establishment of music in the public schools. Built on the tradition that was started by the first members of the Americus Brass Band, and continued after the War Between the States by veterans of the Confederate band, instrumental music is a strong part of the cultural and educational life of Americus and southwest Georgia.

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History of the Americus Brass Bandin the 19th Century

Forward

The early Americus Brass Band Richard Birkemeier’s contribution.

Most of the rest of this history is transcribed from the PhD dissertation ofDr. Benny Pryor Ferguson,used with his knowledge and permission.(Parenthetical inserts are from Richard Birkemeier)

History of the Americus Brass Band
in the 19th Century

The early Americus Brass Band
Richard Birkemeier’s contribution.

Most of the rest of this history is transcribed from the PhD dissertation of
Dr. Benny Pryor Ferguson,
used with his knowledge and permission.
(Parenthetical inserts are from Richard Birkemeier)