“The Honored Dead” (1876)

 

The date of this march, as inscribed on the manuscript of a piano arrangement by C. H. Hattersley, is 1876. The occasion for the march’s composition is not known. When President U. S. Grant died in 1885, Sousa arranged the piece for band, apparently at the publisher’s request. It has rarely been performed but was fittingly used by the U. S. Marine Band in Sousa’s funeral procession.

Paul E. Bierley, The Works of John Philip Sousa (Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1984), 62. Used by permission.