lyr req: Wichita March

Subject: Wichita March
From: GUEST,Jpr
Date: 08 Dec 16 - 02:56 PM

I am looking for the lyrics to the Wichita March. It is referenced as a popular tune in a book by J.W. Wilbarger. The book states that the song was popular in the 1860's with the Texas Sevond Calvary.. if someone has a the lyrics or a lead for me to follow I would be interested.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Wichita March
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Dec 16 - 03:51 PM

Hi, Jpr. I Googled for "wichita march" music and came up with an interesting entry from the Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, Volume 12 (click).

So, Captain and Brevet Major Earl Van Dorn was born at Port Gibson, Mississippi, on May 8, 1820. He graduated from West Point in 1842. In 1858, he was stationed at a permanent camp in the Wichita Mountain Range. On October 1, 1858, the cavalry attacked a band of Comanches near the Wichita village adjacent to the present site of the town of Rush Springs, Oklahoma. The Comanches were taken by surprise and were dispersed, with all of their horses and fifty of their people killed. A U.S. officer and three men were killed, and Major Van Dorn's body was penetrated by an arrow. Van Dorn went home to Mississippi to convalesce.

There he was feasted and feted and honored by admiring fellow citizens, while one of his sisters, who was a gifted musician, composed and dedicated to him a piece of martial music, entitled 'The Wichita March,' which straightaway became a great favorite with the regimental band of the old Second cavalry.

So, this "Wichita March" was written by Major Van Dorn's sister, apparently in Port Gibson, Mississippi. Of course, it might not be the same march as the one that interests you. My thinking is that most marches don't have lyrics...but maybe the one you seek does.

When I visited there in the 1980s, Port Gibson was a sleepy little town on the Mississippi River. It had a nuclear power plant under construction at the time, so I suppose it's not so sleepy now.

Rush Springs, Oklahoma, promotes itself as The Watermelon Capital of the World." It's southwest of Oklahoma City, about halfway to Wichita Falls - so it's not at all near to the City of Wichita in Kansas.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Wichita March
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Dec 16 - 04:02 PM

Here's the book that Jpr was reading, Wilbarger's Indian Depredations in Texas (click). And yes, it's the same "Wichita March" - Wilbarger is telling the story of the same battle, the "Battle of the Wichita Mountains." I drove through that area Nov 1. I wish I had been able to explore a bit, but I had only a day to get from Olkahoma City to Fort Worth. Seemed like an interesting area, although I liked eastern Oklahoma better.

I don't see any indication in either source that the "Wichita March" had lyrics. It was described as "martial music" - which I think of as a piece played by a military band. I looked at the American Memory Collection and the Levy Sheet Music Collection, but didn't find sheet music for the piece. Anybody know of a library of band music that might have it?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: lyr req: Wichita March
From: leeneia
Date: 09 Dec 16 - 11:05 AM

"The Comanches were taken by surprise and were dispersed, with all of their horses and fifty of their people killed."

What a shameful story.