The West Point Band (also known as the U.S. Military Academy Band or USMA Band) is the U.S. Army's oldest active-duty band and the oldest unit at the United States Military Academy.
An act of Congress (Military Peace Establishment Act) issued on March 16, 1802 directed that a corps of engineers be established and stationed at West Point which would constitute a Military Academy. This act formed the Regiment of Artillerist which included four military musicians, the first officially assigned musicians to the United States Military Academy. The band as a unit received its official authorization from the Department of War on June 16, 1817.
Unit organization Four official ensembles make up the West Point Band: The Ceremonial Concert Band, the "Hellcats" or field music group, the West Point Brass Quintet, and the "Benny Havens Band" or popular music group. These ensembles fulfill all of the official musical requirements of the United States Military Academy including military ceremonies, public concerts, sporting events, radio/television broadcasts, and Corps of Cadets activities.
Notable appearances As the senior premier musical representative of the United States Army, the band has appeared at many historical events. It performed for the farewell visit of General Lafayette; the dedication of the Erie Canal; the St. Louis, Chicago and New York World's Fairs; the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in 1970 and 2016; for the funerals of Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Richard M. Nixon; and the inaugurations of numerous presidents.
The West Point Band serves as the official band of the Belmont Stakes.
Additionally, the West Point Band has collaborated with some of the finest musical ensembles in the country, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Members of the West Point Band have been showcased at Carnegie Hall and featured on the Today Show, 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC, The History Channel, Discovery Channel, and recordings with Columbia Records.Moon, Robert. Encyclopedic Reference of Military Music at West Point with a History of the West Point Band [Working papers updated August 2011] Special Collections and Archives Division. United States Military Academy Library.
Inaugural parades The West Point Band has been a part of 18 inaugural parades, a tradition that began in 1873 with President Ulysses S. Grant, a West Point graduate (Class of 1843).
+ Year President Photograph 1872 Ulysses S. Grant 1891 James A. Garfield 1905 Theodore Roosevelt Jr. 1909 William H. Taft 1917 Woodrow Wilson 1921 Warren G. Harding 1937 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1949 Harry S. Truman 1953, 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower 1961 John F. Kennedy 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson 1969, 1973 Richard M. Nixon 1977 Jimmy E. Carter 1981 Ronald W. Reagan 1989 George H.W. Bush 1993, 1997 William J. Clinton 2001, 2005 George W. Bush
History
Early beginnings: 1778–1802 While commanding the Continental Army during the American Revolution, George Washington wrote to his officers:
The West Point Band can trace its roots back to when fifers and drummers were stationed within companies of Continental Soldiers on Constitution Island, just across the Hudson River from West Point. In 1778, shortly after these words by Washington, Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons and his brigade crossed the icy Hudson River and climbed onto The Plain at West Point. Since that day, West Point has been occupied by the United States Army, and soldier musicians have been ever present.
Formative years: 1802–1815 With the establishment of the United States Military Academy in 1802 came an increased demand for military music. As the academy grew, it needed fifers, drummers and buglers to drill the cadets and regulate their daily duties. On April 15, 1802, Jonathan Williams the first Superintendent of the United States military academy set down his desire to have a professional band at West Point with two Teachers of Music (TM) of the enlisted rank.
Music at West Point began with two attached musicians to do the various formations which required musical support. Musician Francis Masi (promoted to the first Teacher of Music) and his brother Vincent Masi were the first documented Field Musicians assigned to the Military Academy, being hired on February 28, 1803, in accordance with an Act of Congress.
By 1809, young men of enlistment age were being recruited or transferred to West Point as musicians. John Babbitt, a fifer, had been Company Fife Major at the 6th Infantry Band School on Governor's Island and was most likely a full-time soldier/musician transferred to West Point. With the beginning of the War of 1812, West Point's role as a professional military school would solidify further, and the need for a professional band become essential for military drill and training. To that end, Captain Alden Partridge's Company of Vermont Militia from Norwich, Vermont formed the core of The Company of Bombardiers, Sappers, and Miners at West Point by an Act of Congress on April 29, 1812. Among them, four musicians were listed: Joseph Roberts, Eleazar Smith, Joab Young, and Silas A. Robinson (West Point's first known Drum Major). These soldiers were the first example of a complete West Point band of martial music.
Official beginnings: 1815–1819
At the conclusion of the War of 1812, the need for a professional band was solidified. Joseph Gardner Swift (3rd Superintendent of West Point from 1812–1814 and Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army from 1812–1818) authorized the purchase of new melodic instruments. By the fall of 1815, the instruments and band uniforms ordered by Alden Partridge had arrived. A series of orders moved selected army musicians in 1815 and arranged for their training at the 6th Infantry Band School at Governor's Island and attachment to West Point. By April of 1816, the band was fully staffed for professional concerts and parades. Within two years of its formation, the military band at West Point was touring the East Coast and fostering West Point's image as a major tourist attraction. Its reputation eclipsed area orchestras of the day and preceded the formation of the New York Philharmonic by twenty-five years.
By 1817, leadership for the West Point Band was given to a civilian with the pay and benefits of a Major. This uncommon honor was granted by the Secretary of War and later approved by Congress. Teacher of Music Richard Willis was an accomplished instructor of all band instruments but was a known virtuoso on the Kent Bugle or Keyed Bugle, an early chromatic keyed brass instrument. The Keyed Bugle would soon become obsolete with the invention of the modern piston valve around 1821, a technology that is still in use today on modern brass instruments.
During this period, the ensemble was performing on a full range of instruments. The first official band muster roll, taken in 1817, included (1) bassoon, (2) flutes, (1) Royal Kent bugle, (5) clarinets, (2) French horns, (1) trumpet, (1) trombone, (7) fifes, and (1) drum. Throughout 1817, Richard Willis led the band in many documented performances; for President James Monroe's first official visit to West Point to inspect the military facilities, in New York City at the Scudder Museum, for funerals at the West Point Cemetery, a ceremony ordered by Sylvanus Thayer to unveil the new Wood Monument, concerts on the Hudson River, cadet exercises on academy grounds, and the much-loved annual outdoor concerts at the ruins of Fort Putnam.
Professional years: 1819–1850
Willis' appointment as Teacher of Music established the group's elite status early on and set the ensemble apart from other military bands of the time. Through a regimen of daily rehearsals and a busy performance schedule, Willis honed the musicians into a polished ensemble. During Willis' tenure as the band's leader (and until his death in 1830), the band would perform for presidents, national and international historic figures, dignitaries visiting West Point, for crowds in New York City (and other cities like Boston and Philadelphia), and alongside the Corps of Cadets.
In 1820, the band and Willis performed a regular concert series at West Point for cadets, tours, and visitors. Cadet diaries of the time document that the audiences had their favorite pieces performed at these concerts: "Hunter's Chorus" from Der Freischutz, a piece called "The Nightengale" which featured flute players from the band playing from the trees, and an Irish folk tune arranged by Willis for band entitled, "Oh! Mary when the Wild Wind Blows." Some of these pieces were probably performed in August of that year for a special concert in New York City Harbor for the U.S. Secretary of State (and later 6th President), John Quincy Adams.
Long march to Boston Under Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer the United States Corps of Cadets accompanied by the USMA Band undertook numerous summer marches (or “campaigns” as some cadets called them) as a method of garnering good will towards the Academy. Hugely successful by all accounts, the Corps was greeted by the enthralled citizens of New York City (1816, 1817, 1819), Philadelphia (1820) and, the most famous march, Boston (1821). It was during the 1817 march to Philadelphia that Willis and the West Point Band reunited with famous keyed bugle player and band leader Francis Johnson. Willis and Johnson were musical colleagues and friends.
On July 20, 1821, the Corps of Cadets boarded steamboats to Troy and from there began the 170 mile march eastward, arriving on August 7th and establishing “Camp Hamilton” on Boston Common. Numerous tours, galas and visitations were held during the two week stay, and the USMA Band figured prominently, even performing for former President John Adams. Bandmaster Willis reprised the President's old campaign song, Adams and Liberty, by then a popular tune known to the younger generation as The Star-Spangled Banner.
General Lafayette's American tour
In the summer of 1824, Willis and the West Point Band had yet another historic experience when the revered General Lafayette, hero of the Revolutionary War and now retiree of sixty-six years arrived in New York Harbor aboard the Cadmus. The beloved Frenchman was a hero to Americans for his victories at the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, and Yorktown. Willis and the Band took part in at least four major receptions around New York City which honored the distinguished guest. They greeted Lafayette on his arrival off Staten Island on August 15, 1824. They were at Fort Lafayette at the harbor when Lafayette inspected that site on September 6, 1824. They played the reception in Castle Garden on September 14, 1824, and they were on hand to welcome Lafayette to West Point when he stepped ashore to pay his respects to the institution he styled our "bulwark of national defense." Willis and his musicians may even have been aboard the Cadmus during Lafayette's travels to upstate New York.
Opening of the Erie Canal
Richard Willis also wrote music celebrating the opening of the Erie Canal on October 26th, 1825. The work, The Grand Canal March was well received in its day and is still to be found in U.S. music collections throughout America. Willis' Grand Canal March was premiered by him and "his elegant band of music" during final ceremonies marking the waterway's opening. This first performance was heard toward the close of a fortnight's festivities ending a nine-year project that brought unprecedented growth and prosperity to northern New York State and made New York Harbor the most significant port on the eastern seaboard. Participants enjoyed civic salutes that included processions, speeches, entertainment, the firing of cannons, and countless bonfires.
"Ol' Bentz," The Bugler