BRICE, McCLURE,
&
THE STONEWALL BRIGADE BAND
By
W. R. Waddell, Jr.
Preface
Birthing an Empire - A Frontier Fantasy
"Slay Thy Irish Lord - Start Anew!" - Unknown
Fall's early morning air dipped into the vale. Trees and vegetation were in accord. An eastern red sky gave every
indication low clouds might dim tomorrow's light. It aroused hopes in a man making a way as best he could.
He could begin to see the dark shape of the Appalachians emerging in another new light - those great barriers to a
dependable and bountiful rain. "Ah! - But that was the way it was," he thought to himself. "Lewis and the others
had made it. And so too I."
He reached the shed and stepped though its door. The odors of prosperity, both at once sweet and foul, struck him.
The light from his lantern caused a rat to scurry to safety on a beam above. His cows were waiting and ready. They
turned their heads toward his approach and chewed and chewed and chewed -- patiently awaiting their duty.
He was confident that his gamble and efforts were making life a good thing for his family. Every one was well and
the harvest had been plentiful. So much so, that he had been able to sell and trade some bit of his to others in
John Lewis' town.
He stooped and drew up a stool. He seated himself, positioned a pail, and took the udder and a tit into his hands.
Song broke the morning's quiet as substance struck metal.
-- Western Virginia -- 1760
------------------------------
A Copy Of A Book Containing These Three Inscriptions
THE
STONEWALL
BRIGADE BAND
By
Marshall Moore Brice
Mary Baldwin College
McClure Printing Company, Inc. Verona, Virginia
Copyright 1967 by Marshall Moore Brice
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-30663
Printed in the United States of America
To The Memory of my Mother,
Love Mobley Brice
"To Josephine Barkman Coleman with best regards, Marshall Moore Brice." -- December 5, 1967.
"This copy of Dr. Marshall Moore Brice's "The Stonewall Brigade Band" was given to me, W. R. Waddell, Jr., by my
deceased wife, Janet H. (Rosenzweig) Waddell, for a Christmas present in 1992 at Pleasant Valley, Virginia in
Rockingham County.
Interesting in its own reading, I have used it extensively for research in my duties as Business Manager and now,
in my duties as Member at Large for History for the Stonewall Brigade Band.
Upon appeal by the Stonewall Brigade Band, Mrs. Elizabeth Brice Lendian - heir to Dr. Brice, donated the copyright
ownership to the Stonewall Brigade Band, Inc.; and, it has been so registered as such with the U.S. Copyright
Office." -- W. R. Waddell, Jr., 14 June 2004.
---------------------------------------------------
Story I
"On a sunshiny October afternoon in 1920 I first saw and heard the Stonewall Brigade Band. It was leading a
Shriners' parade down Beverley Street, with Dave Switzer, strutting under a towering shako and dexterously twirling
his baton, in the fore. Though these twenty musicians obviously were not professionals, it was evident from their
bearing that this was by no means an average municipal band. Even the urchins and dogs that tagged along behind the
parade swaggered with a touch of arrogance." -- Marshall Moore Brice -- Staunton, Va. June, 1967
Dr. Brice goes on in his preface to his "The Stonewall Brigade Band" to relate to us the community's endearment for
that group. The memories the band invoked were relevant for their time and how their lives were lived, as only
fifty-five years had passed from that most, but brief, magnanimous "Appomattox April" day. Men told him that as
boys they had "romped" and "scampered" around the bandstand in Gypsy Hill Park as the band performed. He further
explains that he had access to Civil War veterans "who could remember listening to its music between battles;" and,
"there were old people who could recall the year when the band was organized."
He explains his work is also a history of a community. And he was most careful to cite the band members as "mayors
and councilmen, elders and vestrymen, doctors, lawyers, merchants, bankers, teachers. Among them also were
carpenters, bricklayers, clerks, plumbers, railroad laborers, barbers, mechanics -- people who were known by
everyone in a city that numbered little more than ten thousand in 1920."
Forty-one years later, Dr. Brice would stand in front of the Stonewall Brigade Band on the second of what were to
be three different bandstands specifically constructed for this musical organization to deliver a radio broadcasted
and recorded commemoration address on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War. Maybe
it was on this summer night that he decided to write its history. Be it so or not, six years later he published
it -- a history of continuous organization, rehearsal, and performance -- from 1855 to 1967. And on the eve, 31
December 2005, of the Stonewall Brigade Band's 150 years of continuous organization, practice, and performance, Dr.
Marshall Moore Brice - Honorary Member, 1969 -- was counted among the 824 named musicians who had contributed to
its life.
Dr. Brice was a professor of English at Mary Baldwin College from 1956 through June of 1968. He was born August 30,
1898 in White Oak, South Carolina and educated at Clemson University, the University of Wisconsin, and the
University of Virginia. He began his teaching career in Elberton, Georgia from 1917 to 1920. He headed the Staunton
Military Academy's English department for thirty-five years before joining the Mary Baldwin faculty. He was the
author of two books published by the McClure Printing Co., Inc. of Verona, Va.: the cited one above and "Daughter
of the Stars", 1973. Upon retiring, he remained in Staunton until his death on November 14, 1978.
Story II
Sometime very near to the year 1912, the McClure Printing Company was formed in the city of Staunton, Va. It was
certainly up and running on June 1912. For then it listed its address at 27 - 29 North Augusta Street with a
telephone number of 605 and ½ and proclaimed itself as "stationers, printers, and a bookstore". These particulars
were circulated in the "International Magazine of Industry Review - Manufacturers List - Business - Industry -
History" - a catalog of Staunton's industries, its leaders, and their accomplishments.
As required by Acts of the General Assembly of 1922 on 18 August 1944, the company's officers reported its address
as 19 - 21 -23 West Frederick Street, Staunton, Va. It principal owner was J. E. Runnels of 214 North Lewis Street.
Then again in 1962 it said of itself: "Printers, The McClure Printing Co. offers complete letterpress service of
every description. Offset forms. Order books. Rubber stamps. Telephone Tuxedo 6 - 9312. Over 50 years of dependable
service. We solicit your order large or small. Estimates cheerfully given to be sure, call McClure's - 19 West
Frederick Street, Staunton, Va."
The company remained competitive in Staunton until the early 1960's. For whatever reasons, it moved into a more
contemporary building at an address on the east side of Lee Jackson highway just outside the current northern
limits of the City of Staunton and into the unincorporated environs of Verona, Va.
Of interest to this story, is the remarkable service provided to a number of authors during this company's life in
Staunton and Verona. Particularly so since the number and style of the books published by this firm were so very
much centered on life in the Shenandoah Valley.
By no means a definitive, incontestable list, and heavily edited for my convenience and your reading ease, one
might warm to the flavor and worth of the preceding from these titles (All Titles McClure Printing Co except where
noted):
Allen, John T, III, "Lost Landmarks of Goshen", Staunton, VA, (not dated)
Brice, Marshall Moore, "The Stonewall Brigade Band", Verona, VA, 1967
Brice, Marshall Moore, "Conquest of the Valley", University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA, 1965
Brice, Marshall Moore, "Daughter of the Stars", Verona, VA, 1975
Brown, William Moseley, "Marshall Lodge No. 39 AF & AM", Staunton VA, 1953
Bushong, Millard K, "General Turner Ashby and Stonewall's Campaign", Verona, VA, 1980
Chang, James L Y, "An overview of introductory economics", Verona VA, 1984
Clem, Gladys B., It Happened Around Staunton & In Virginia, Staunton, VA, 1964
Conroy, Pat, "The Boo", Verona, VA, 1971
Cutchins, John A, "Memories of Richmond", (Unknown), 1973
Diehl, George West, "The Brick Church on Timber Ridge", Verona, VA, 1975
Diehl, George West, "Old Oxford and Her Families", Verona, VA, 1971
Diehl, George West, "The Reverend Samuel Houston", Verona, VA, 1970
Fall, Ralph E, "Diary of Robert Rose", Verona, VA, 1977
Fearnow, M L, "Second mile journeys and other stories", Staunton VA, 1952
Flynn, Luther, "Beyond the Mountains", Verona, VA, (not dated)
Gibbs, J Lewis, "Mothers of men three sermons on motherhood", Staunton VA, 1962
Hale, John S, "Historical Atlas of Colonial Virginia", Verona, VA, 1978
Hudson, William E, "The adventures of a dreamer", Staunton VA, 1952
Hughart, Thomas, "First Marriage Records of Augusta County, Virginia 1785-1813", Verona, VA, 1970)
Johnson, Patricia Givens, "James Patton and the Appalachian Colonists", Verona, VA, 1973
Letcher, John Seymour, "Only Yesterday In Lexington, VA", Verona, VA, 1974
May, C, E, "Life Under Four Flags in North River Basin of Virginia", Verona, VA, 1976
McClure, Leon, "Following McClure Ancestors", Verona, VA, 1974
McClung, James W, "Historical Significance of Rockbridge County, Virginia", Staunton, VA, 1939
Morton, Oren F, "History of Monroe County, West Virginia", Staunton, VA, 1916
Nock, L. Floyd III, "Drummond Town - A One Horse Town", Verona, VA, 1976
O'Hara, Lucy Hudgins, "Yorktown As I Remember by O'Hara", Verona VA, 1981
Pisney, Raymond F, "Then and now", Staunton VA, 1975
Pisney, Raymond F, "Old buildings new resources for work and play", Verona VA, 1976
Priest, Lyman W, "The Penick Family: Descendants of Edward Penick/Penix/Pinix", Verona, VA, 1982
Smith, Ella Williams, "Tears and Laughter in Virginia and Elsewhere", Verona, VA, 1972
Turner, Charles Wilson, "A straw in the wind some days of my years", (unknown), 1983
Turner, Charles Wilson, "The education of Col David Bullock Harris", (unknown), (unknown)
Turner, Charles Wilson, "War Letters, 1917-1919, of Professor George Junkin Irwin", Verona, VA, 1976
Turner, Charles W, "Old Zeus - Life and Letters (1860-1862) of James J, White", Verona, VA, 1983
Turner, Charles, W, "My Dear Emma: War Letters of Colonel James K, Edmonson", Verona, VA, 1978
Unknown, Unknown, "A history of Windy Cove Presbyterian Church", Verona VA, 1977
Unknown, Unknown, "Barnhart family history Augusta County Virginia", Verona, VA, 1984
Wayland, John Walter, "The Lincolns in Virginia", Staunton VA, 1946
John W, Wayland, "Stonewall Jackson's Way", Verona, VA, 1940
Wiatt, Alexander Lloyd, "The Wiatt Family of Virginia", Verona, VA, 1980
Wilson, Howard McKnight, "Great Valley Patriots", Verona, VA, 1976
Other titles of interest:
"A History Of The Second Presbyterian Church Staunton, Virginia 1875-1975 Verona, VA, 1975
"Centennial The East Augusta Mutual Fire Insurance Company", Verona, VA, (unknown)
"Fall Out to the Right of the Road!", Verona, VA, 1973
"Historic Homes of Northern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia", Staunton, VA, 1937
"Language Arts & Disciplines", Verona, VA, (unknown)
"Old Houses in Rockingham County 1750-1850", Verona, VA, 1970
"Second Marriage Record of Augusta County, VA 1813-1850", Verona, VA, 1972
"The New Harmonia Sacra", Verona, VA, (unknown)
"World War II Books: Pacific Theater Paperback", Verona, VA, 1970
Without particular notice, this company was out of business by 1986 -- ending about seventy-five years of
publishing.
Story III
In early 1855, David A. Drake organized the "Mountain Sax Horn Band" since the City of Staunton did not have one,
as did many of the nearby smaller communities. The dozen plus ordinary citizens practiced on their personally
purchased horns and studied musical scores for about two years before beginning public performances. Mr. Drake
induced Professor Augustus J. Turner to take on the band's directorship in addition to his duties as a music
instructor at the Wesleyan Female Collegiate Institute. By 1859 the band was "Turner's Silver Cornet Band". Soon it
was the 5th Virginia Volunteer Regimental Band.
"I wish my darling could be with me now
And enjoy the sweet music of the brass
Band of the Fifth Regiment.
It is an excellent Band."
Thursday, August 22, 1861 - Camp Harman, Virginia - Thomas Jonathan Jackson
A month and a day before, band member William E. Woodward had been killed in action on the fields of Manassas. One
thousand three hundred and twenty-seven days later the "Confederates" were paroled to return to their homes --
soldiers with their horses, officers with their side arms, and, as luck would be, band members with their
instruments. All other properties were confiscated -- not that much remained in the possession of Lee's forces. For
that matter, not much remained of the famously named "Stonewall Brigade" and its "Stonewall Brigade Band" -- now
with just seven members "left to surrender at Appomattox". "It was a desolated community (Shenandoah Valley) to
which the soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade returned."
Other members had been wounded, captured, or made sick from their volunteered armed service. Somehow these men
reformed the organization even while the immediate and as yet unsettled civic situation under the victorious Union
played itself out. "Reconstruction" may have had multiple meanings to the people of the Shenandoah Valley -- and
the political connotation now so popularly associated with that term for this period probably ranked last in their
lexicon. After all, it was a Union pronouncement.
"These young veterans (band members) were fitting into the new regime equably. With few exceptions they had
returned from the war without money and possessing little in the form of material goods. They were eager to return
to civilian vocations..It was no rare circumstance when one became a tobacconist and a newspaper editor, another a
merchant and a farmer, another a photographer, publisher, and carriage-maker... The Stonewall Brigade Band
preserved its organization and retained its proud name. Busy as its veterans were in adapting to their civilian
careers, they found time to rehearse twice a week."
------------------------------------
Perception
Extraordinary! The record is clear. "During the late summer and fall of 1865 -- only a half-year after the
surrender at Appomattox", in the midst of uncertainty and some chaos, the Stonewall Brigade Band was in public
performance.
And thereupon rests an affirmation of human spirit that has sustained the organization for over a hundred and fifty
years.
Dr. Brice told the Stonewall Brigade Band's story in ten chapters: "Early Years, 1855-1861"; "The Civil War,
1861-1865"; "Reconstruction, 1865-1872"; "Incorporation and Expansion, 1873-1884"; "National Recognition,
1884-1893"; "The Turn of the Century, 1894-1904"; "During Peace and War, 1904-1918"; "Between Two Wars, 1919-1940";
"Advance Into a Second Century, 1941-1965"; and finally, "Today, 1966-1967".
Except for their volunteer Civil War military service for the Confederacy, the Stonewall Brigade Band has never
been a group of musicians bent on a professional career. As a note of interest and just for argument sake, the
oldest United States band, the U. S. Marine Corps Band, was forced to accept draftees for a period during the
Vietnam War. The Stonewall Brigade Band can rightfully proclaim itself to be the oldest, continuously active,
volunteer, community supported band in the Nation. A claim that is substantiated by academics who track such and an
authenticated record -- with great thanks to Dr. Brice.
An exercise for impression though, is to postulate the number of people who have enjoyed its performances. There is
the brief period before the Civil War to count - maybe a couple of thousand at most. Then there were the soldiers
of the regiments, brigades, companies, and units of the Confederacy throughout the war years to consider. On at
least two occasions, it was recorded that two armies listened -- Union and Confederate -- once from the heights of
Chatham overlooking the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg and again in the Wilderness near Locust Grove. It
seems reasonable to guess the number is in the neighborhood of the high tens-of-thousands for that period. But to
put a finger on a "guesstimate" of grand proportions, follow this: "The culmination of this establishment of Gypsy
Hill Park was that in May 1891 the city fathers appropriated $250 for the band with the provision that it would
hold two concerts in the park each week from May 19 to October 1. A covered bandstand was erected under a grove of
giant maples, and benches were arranged in front. Thus in 1891 was begun the program of city-sponsored concerts
that have continued for seventy-five years." While the twice a week provision was revised to once a week, from the
first Monday in June to the last Monday in August sometime just before or during the "great Depression", these free
concerts in the park have continued without a break into today -- fully one hundred and sixteen years later.
Considering the paucity of delivery of musical entertainment in any form prior to the 1920's, one might guess that
the Stonewall Brigade Band, over its life, has been heard by an audience numbering in the high hundreds of
thousands with thousands more to come. Of course that pales in comparison with the numbers being reached through
modern technology! But consider that it was all live, natural (no fancy sound and electronically enhanced systems),
and, with so few exceptions (fund raising), always -- admission free! It is a "guesstimate" that merits more than
just a passing remark of respect for the gift from those returning veterans and probably merits as much attention
of accomplishment as their heroic Civil War service. But the natural inclination is to be drawn to the dramatic and
dangerous. Again thanks to Dr. Brice, the complete story of accomplishment and the growth of a community have been
laid out for examination.
------------------------------------------
"Change is avalanching
Upon our heads
And most people are grotesquely
Unprepared to cope with it."
-- Alan Toffler
When Dr. Brice published his book the Stonewall Brigade Band was in a state of slight malaise. The Interstate had
been newly opened for its north and south orientation. Work was underway to complete an east and west corridor with
intersecting junctions at Staunton and Lexington. The social and cultural upheaval of the 1960's and the meteoric
rise of television were changing the entertainment tastes of an arguably highly structured, close-knit society.
That different, difficult, and slightly annoying "outside" world was again on the Valley's doorstep and admittance
was mandatory. While the organization wasn't in dire threat of extinction as the several times in its history
heretofore, funds were low and its rehearsal facilities were poor and inadequate -- the band having to make do in
the basement of the Staunton Court House.
Several circumstances came to bear to the betterment of the band. In 1966 a portion of the old Gypsy Hill Pump
House at the entrance to the park was given over for the use of the band for its rehearsals. New leadership came to
the fore when a then young, Gary Funk (now deceased) became the President. Through his efforts, Bob Moody, a former
member and the music director for the Buffalo Gap High School, became the director for the Stonewall Brigade Band
in 1975. Leadership posts were filled by dedicated, long time members such as Emerson Deitz, Bob Hanson, and Jack
Foster. As noted so many times before by Dr. Brice, the community businesses and the several civic societies once
again came together to build for the City of Staunton a new bandstand for the Stonewall Brigade Band in 1976. Its
design was the genius of Bob Moody. And much of the labor for finishing construction was performed by members of
the Stonewall Brigade Band. In 1988 the band began a yearly fund raising program by hosting a "Showcase of Bands"
in late September for regional high schools. During this period, Greg Swortzel wrote a request for a grant from the
Virginia Commission for the Arts. The grant was approved with matching funds from the City of Staunton and Augusta
County and was shared with two other arts organizations. The money from the "Showcase of Bands" plus the shared
grant, the City of Staunton's commitment to permanent rehearsal quarters, and the new bandstand secured for the
band a degree of fiscal comfort and organizational stability heretofore unknown to the organization's history.
Dr. Brice recorded the several times of crisis throughout the band's history that threatened its extinction. Nearly
all of them were associated with a dearth of cash necessary to keep the organization going. Anyone who has had
experience with maintaining a volunteer community band knows that there are but three essentials "legs" upon which
the organizations rests. They are: having a dedicated director, a place to rehearse, and some money -- not a lot of
money -- but enough to refresh the band's library with new music from season to season. Lose any one of these three
essentials for any reason and "they will not come" and the organization will dissolve.
The Stonewall Brigade Band has weathered 150 years of crisis involving the possibility of dissolution. Materially,
it may be now at the apex of security with regard to the "three essential legs". The City of Staunton has made
significant improvements to protect its rehearsal hall. Once the south wall of the 125 year old plus "old pump
house" was endanger of falling into Lewis creek. A strengthened water concrete and stone concourse has been built.
This new safeguard closes out the probability but not the possibility of destruction from the "near biblical"
floods that wash the City of Staunton from time to time. This still serviceable facility should be able count its
life as dating from grand ancient origins to some long time from now. Bob Moody, the current director since 1975
and a member since 1960, has set the benchmark for consistency, devotion, and dedication; and, continues to
manifest those virtues and an extraordinary ongoing physical stamina for records of endurance. Financially, the
City of Staunton now formally identifies the organization as a routine budget line item. The influx of new members
of all ages is substantial and appears to be growing as the Nation experiences the retirement of "baby boomers";
and, the Standards of Learning requirements force the youth of the community to forego school extracurricular
activities in favor of the less time demanding, non-mandatory band rehearsals and concerts. One could conclude only
a "rosy" scenario for the band at this juncture and onward. After all, it is supported by state and local public
funds and provided local public facilities.
Dr. Brice was there to record one hundred and twelve years of the "ups and downs" of the band and McClure was there
to put his work into print. Dr. Brice and McClure Printing are gone. The winds of change are relentless. Forty
years have passed. Turn around just once and the band will be observing its one hundred and seventy fifth
anniversary of continuous organization, rehearsal, and performance. Odds are the band will be there for these
questions. Will someone record those seventy-three years? And if so, how will it be disseminated? Ah! --
demographics change -- they could give one some reason to doubt favorable answers. Will all that past that was and
is Virginia's treasure be of interest to those to come? -- "I'm not for sure" (as often said hereabouts) --
certainly not should no effort be made to make it so!
But this is such a small story. Surely Virginia's great ones won't go unnoticed! Or will they?
W. R. (Ray) Waddell, Jr.
At Verona, Va. - Augusta County
31 October 2007
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