Marshall's Civic Band

Donated to Marshall's band by Scott Bradley, director of the Onaga High School 
band. 
 
Composed in 1893. "For $500 more, this march probably would have been named 'The 
Devil's Deputy.' Sousa was composing music for an operetta of that name at the 
request of the celebrated comedian Francis Wilson. Sousa asked $1,500 for the 
work, but Wilson offered $1,000. When they could not come to an agreement, Sousa 
withdrew with his partially completed manuscript, which included a lively march. 
    "Sousa and George Frederick Hinton, one of the band's managers, were in 
Chicago witnessing a spectacle called 'America' when a backdrop, with a huge 
painting of the Liberty Bell, was lowered. Hinton suggested that 'The Liberty 
Bell' would be a good title for Sousa's new march. By coincidence, the next 
morning Sousa received a letter from his wife in which she told how their son 
had marched in his first parade in Philadelphia - a parade honoring the return 
of the Liberty Bell, which had been on tour. The new march was then christened 
'The Liberty Bell.' It was one of the first marches Sousa sold to the John 
Church Company and was the first composition to bring Sousa a substantial 
financial reward. 
    "According to a story told by the Sousa Band's first soprano, Marcella 
Lindh, she contributed one of the themes of the march. Sousa had heard her 
whistling a catchy tune of her own and had asked her permission to incorporate 
it into one of his marches. Several years later she heard 'The Liberty Bell' 
march being performed by a band in Europe and recognized her own melody in the 
march." 
 
The Works of John Philip Sousa 
pg. 67 
Paul E. Bierley 
Integrity Press 
1984