The Depot Band at Jefferson Barracks

 

Back in the day
every photographer
had to carefully arrange a military band
so that the drum major was clearly visible.
It helped if the man was wearing a tall bearskin hat
but if not, then putting him with his long staff
to the side of the band was acceptable.

 

Likewise the band's director
needed to be recognizable too
especially because he wielded a much smaller stick.
If there was a band mascot, it might be next to the drums
or near the leader, ready to yowl the alarm
for the bandsmen to get into formation.

But the most important person
to feature in a military band's photograph
was the good fellow who kept everyone fed.
His nickname was Cookie
and his musical instrument
was appreciated three times a day—everyday.

Of course there were lots of exceptions
to these rules,
suggestions really,
since not every band had all the characters.

But this one did.
It's a great example
of the musical traditions
in the United States Army.

They were the band at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.

The full photo shows 24 bandsmen (not counting the cook, the bandleader, or the mascot) standing outside the broad porch of a brick building. A caption on the postcard identifies the band as the:
 14th Co Band   Jefferson Barracks Mo. The musicians were servicemen in the United States Army stationed at Jefferson Barracks which is located on the Mississippi River just south of St. Louis, Missouri. Established in 1827 and named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson who had died the year before, this post is one of the U. S. Army's oldest commands.  

Jefferson Barracks has a long history as a rest and supply station and a center for army recruitment and training beginning with the Black Hawk War in 1832 and continuing up to World War II.  From its revolutionary inception the United States chose not to maintain a large standing army. In 1898, before the onset of the brief war with Spain, the U. S. Army had roughly 2,100 officers and 26,000 enlisted men divided into five regiments of artillery, ten regiments of cavalry, and twenty-five regiments of infantry. But after the national call for volunteers it increased its size to 216,029 troops by August 31, 1898. All those new recruits along with numerous state militia and guard units had to be organized somewhere and Jefferson Barracks was perfectly positioned for this purpose. Soldiers back then did a lot of marching and for that a good band was a very necessary army unit for a post like Jefferson Barracks to maintain.   

Aerial view of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
Source: Wikipedia By Mrouse - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

In 1946 Jefferson Barracks was decommissioned as a military post and much of the land was transferred to St. Louis county. However the Missouri National Guard and U. S. Air Force still maintain small headquarters operations at Jefferson Barracks. It is also the site of the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery which was established after the American Civil War for the interment of military veterans. It is the final resting place for over 237,000 veterans. 

A second postcard shows the band in a similar outdoor location, maybe even outside the same band barracks. I think it may be the same photographer too as they've made a variation of the other photo.  Here the bandleader is on the left next to his cornet and clarinet sections, but the band's mascot seems to have run off.

On the right is the same drum major and bass drummer. The double-bell euphonium and helicon players are now switched to opposite ends of the top row. 

It's a larger band with 29 bandsmen, without its mascot and cook. It's a typical instrumentation of a U. S. Army band of the 1900s, but I find it interesting for the instruments that are absent. Usually a military band, unlike a civilian town band, included double reed players on oboe and bassoon,  but here they are missing, perhaps because these instruments are more difficult to learn and have never been common in America. There are also no French horns either, another instrument regularly found in European military bands. (The horn-like instrument in the first photo, second from left in the 2nd row, is a mellophone, not a French horn.) The band has just one flute player with a blackwood instrument but no piccolo. (Though most flutists can double on piccolo.) Instead the high descant melody line would have to be played up by an E-flat clarinet.

This postcard has a lengthy message printed on the front.

                          United States Depot Band,  Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
        Mr. C. G. Conn,    1909
                        I congratulate you upon the great work you have
        done  for musicians and for your untiring efforts to supply Army
        musicians with Instruments that makes their work both pleasant
        and efficient.                            FRANK J. WEBER, Bandmaster.

The note is a testimonial to Charles Gerard Conn (1844 – 1931), the founder of the C. G. Conn musical instrument company in Elkhart, Indiana, at this time, the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in the world. Conn's innovations in brass and woodwind instrument designs and his promotion of band music were a major influence on musical culture in America. Conn owned a newspaper in Elkhart which also published a monthly music journal that regularly featured dozen of photos of bands like the Depot Band of Jefferson Barracks with testimonials from musicians and bandleaders on the merits of Conn band instruments. I wrote more about C. G. Conn in my story from March 2024, How to Make a Saxophone. 

Washington, D. C. Evening Star
2 August 1913

The bandmaster, Frank J. Weber, was regarded as one of the best musicians in the U. S. Army. He was born in 1861 in Mishawaka, Indian near South Bend where he learned to play the cornet. In July 1882 at the age of 21 Frank J. Weber enlisted in the army listing his occupation as musician. His first assignment was with the band at Jefferson Barracks. After a few years serving in both cavalry and infantry regimental bands he left the army to play with orchestras and theater bands in St. Louis. During the Spanish-American War, Weber joined the 3rd U. S. Volunteer Engineer regiment and for 10 months led its band while in Cuba. On his return to St. Louis he became director of the Letter Carriers' Band as well as playing in the St. Louis Symphony. 

In 1906 Weber re-enlisted to lead a reorganization of the Depot Band at Jefferson Barracks. Initially he had only 15 musicians in his charge but expected to have 28, the regulation number of bandsmen. He was responsible for purchasing all the band's instruments and music as well providing instrument instruction, too. His success entered him a good reputation as an army bandleader and in August 1913 he was selected to replace the retiring bandleader of the Engineer Band stationed in Washington, D. C. 

The Washington Evening Star was impressed enough to include Weber's photo along with the report.

_ _ _

The Engineer Band was one of several military bands in our nation's capitol that regularly gave public performances from 1914 to 1918. However, as far as I could determine, the band and Bandmaster Weber never served in France. After the war ended in 1919, General John J. Pershing, promoted to General of the Armies of the United States in recognition for leading the American Expeditionary Forces in the war, decided that America's army bands needed an upgrade to match the level of military bands he had heard in Europe. In January 1922 he established the United States Army Band, also known as "Pershing's Own", as the premier musical organization of the United States Army. 

Washington, D. C. Times Herald
5 December 1920

In the lead up to forming the band, bandleader Frank J. Weber, was put in charge of organizing a music school at Columbus Barracks, Ohio called the Seventh Recruit Depot Band. It was expected that he would supervise the training of 200 musicians for the army's regimental bands. The school would also for the first time offer a higher level of music instruction for qualified musicians to become bandleaders. 

Between December 1920 and February 1921 newspapers around the country ran a report on this peacetime appeal for recruiting more army musicians.  "We can take a man who knows enough to whistle a tune," says Band Leader Weber, "and make a musician out of him.  Regiments are have trouble in keeping enough bandsmen because after three years of army training [the standard enlistment period] a man can get an easy job in some industrial plant, where he is immediately assigned to the band, now an important part in welfare work among the large corporations."

In 1925 Bandmaster Frank J. Weber retired after over 33 years of accumulated army service. In that time he had risen from a private to a non-commissioned officer rank and in the 1920s was one of the first bandmasters to attain a warrant officer's rank of captain. He and his wife Catherine, with their daughter Katherine M. Weber continued to make their home in Washington, and in retirement Weber worked as director of the veterans' band of the American Legion post there. 

On 19 May 1932 Capt. Frank J. Weber died at his home in Washington after a long illness of five weeks. He and his wife are buried at the U. S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington, D. C.

The United States military currently has 137 regular and reserve bands. Eleven of these are designated premier ensembles, including four U. S. Army bands, two U.S. Marine Corps bands. two U. S. Navy bands, two U. S. Air Force bands, and one U. S. Coast Guard band. Within these bands are far more sub-groups that Bandmaster Weber would not recognize, including choruses; string ensembles; and many jazz, rock, and pop combos. The premier bands and the smaller regional reserve bands play concert tours throughout America and in foreign lands too. The bands of course are now more representative of America with musicians male and female, and from  every ethnic background. The music too has evolved to include far more tunes than what the Depot Band played in 1909. However I suspect the modern army band performs far fewer military parades than in Frank Weber's day. 

My dad was an army officer whose career took him to many military posts in America, Korea, France, and Germany. Growing up I remember watching him march in regimental reviews to  music from an army band. That flourish of drums and flash of wind instruments accompanying the rhythmic cadence of the troops captured my attention and introduced me to music in a way I still marvel at, even though I chose a different path to become a musician in an orchestra rather than a band. 

There was one tune that every army band played for those parades that became my favorite march, and maybe the first music I can recall recognizing and learning of its composer. It's  "The Thunderer" by John Philip Sousa. He composed it in 1889 for a chapter of the Knights Templar fraternal order which was participating in the Twenty-fourth Triennial Conclave of the Knights' Grand Encampment. [By coincidence I wrote a story about the Twenty-sixth Conclave, The Grand Parade of the Knights Templar. Those knights likely heard "The Thunderer" when it was still a fresh novelty. ] 

So I'll finish this story of Bandmaster Frank J. Weber and his Depot Band of Jefferson Barracks with a march that I feel certain was his favorite too. This performance is by The United States Coast Guard Band. I originally posted a great version by the U. S. Army Field Band but for some reason it was removed. The Coast Guard Band's uniforms are just as good though.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where no one can be too house proud.

Babes and Mutts

  

Kids can be a real handful. 
They always seem to be rushing around,
getting into stuff they shouldn't,
and generally making a mess for mom and dad.

Even when they're infants and less mobile
they still require a lot of attention
since babies fall over so easily.

 Dogs can be a nuisance too.
Equally as curious and suspicious as children
they are easily provoked into dashing about
on their more stable four-legged drive,

which gives them an advantage over toddlers,
and makes them much harder to catch. 

If only there was some way to keep kids and dogs
confined in some kind of portable safety device. 

Fortunately for parents and dog owners
both children and dogs
can be successfully trained
for proper social behavior
if you have the right equipment. 

A tuba.

This photo postcard shows two hefty babes stuffed into the bell of a tuba. They are posed with a parent clutching the tuba, an EE-flat three piston model, while seated on the stoop of what, presumably, is their home. The children are dressed in winter woolen wear with caps. The print is faded, which I have corrected a bit, and is marred by circular marks pressed into the image.  The postcard was never mailed but has a note on the back.

Gertrude, Cliff and Bob  Sipe 

The reason I say parent is that I'm unsure whether it is mom or dad holding the tuba. The name order suggests that the child on left with the bow is Gertrude, with Cliff, the dad, center, and Bob the child on the right. But looking closely I'm also wondering if the adult may be a woman. The lower legs look like they are covered with a dress and an apron. The face also looks more feminine than masculine. Perhaps she is Gertrude and Cliff and Bob are the children. Or maybe Bob Sipe is the dad and he holds Gertrude and Cliff in his tuba. It's a puzzle that sadly Ancestry.com could not solve as the surname Sipe did not turn up any matches in those different combinations. But still it is a charming snapshot, though unplugging two infants from a tuba can't have been easy.  One of those babes is bound to complain. Besides no self-respecting tubist should ever use a pair of mutes together. That would just stop its bass tones altogether.  

My second photo is unusual because it's a rare use of a small canine as a tuba mute. This bandsman has his helicon, a type of bass tuba with plumbing worn over the shoulder, resting on the ground while his dog, a small boxer or large Boston terrier relaxes in the instrument's bell. Dogs usually can keep a good metronomic beat with their tail, and can sing howl along to the music, too. But these breeds often have docked tails which aren't as good as a Labrador or Collie. Their toenails also scratch the inside of the bell. But clearly in a pinch, a smallish dog can work as a tuba mute as well as any baby. 

On the front of this  postcard photo the musician signed his name: Stanley Paddack.  Unfortunately, though the surname is not common, there were no clear matches in Ancestry.com. If only we knew the name of the dog. Maybe Stanley is the dog's name and Paddack its master. Who knows. It's another unsolvable tuba mystery.

For more photos of babes in tubas and helicons
try these stories:

The Family Portrait
The Bassic Baby Carrier
Another Tuba Baby
Tuba Babies

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where no one can say no to a basket of puppies.

The Clown Band

 

The Circus

by C. J. Dennis, (1876–1938)

Hey, there! Hoop-la! the circus is in town!
Have you seen the elephant? Have you seen the clown?
Have you seen the dappled horse gallop round the ring?
Have you seen the acrobats on the dizzy swing?
Have you seen the tumbling men tumble up and down?
Hoop-la! Hoop-la! the circus is in town!

Hey, there! Hoop-la! Here’s the circus troupe!
Here’s the educated dog, jumping through the hoop.
See the lady Blondin with the parasol and fan,
The lad upon the ladder and the india-rubber man.
See the joyful juggler and the boy who loops the loop.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Here’s the circus troupe!

*** ***

This clown band and its educated bull terrier
were not identified on this small 4"x3" snapshot photo.
They stand outside the doorway of a crude shack
which has a damaged foundation
that tilts down alarmingly on one side.
It gives the photo an absurd quality
that matches the fantastic faces of the clown troupe.

Their clown uniforms are, needless to say, not any standard to make a judgement of when or where the photo was taken. My best guess is roughly 1910-1930, somewhere in the United States. These six zany musicians could be a group of amateurs like the Zanesville Rube Band, but I think they look too professional, especially their shoes. Check out the shoe size of the cymbal player in the doorway, and the stray boot behind the snare drummer. Those are the footwear of professional fools.

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus (C.J.) Dennis (1876–1938)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

This poem was written by C. J. Dennis, (1876–1938),  a prolific Australian poet celebrated for his humorous poetry, often in dialect verse. His full name was Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, and he was born in Auburn, South Australia. He published his first poem at age 19 while employed as a solicitor's clerk. He moved on to work at numerous literary publications and newspapers. His second book of poetry, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, published in 1916, sold 65,000 copies in its 1st year, and by 1917 he had become the most successful poet in Australian history. During his lifetime C. J. Dennis produced over 12 collections of poetry. This poem, The Circus, appeared in A Book for Kids, published in 1921.

Dennis died in 1938 in Melbourne at age 61. Joseph Lyons, then Prime Minister of Australia, said of him: "I am sure that I speak for all Australians in expressing deep regret at the death of C. J. Dennis. He was the Robert Burns of Australia. He created characters which have become immortal and he captured the true Australian spirit. Already his work is world-famous, and future generations will treasure it."

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where ice cream is on special offer all weekend.

The Band Mascot

Hey Bud!

How do you like our band's new mascot?
His name is Tige because
since our Bandmaster's name is Braun,
it's just gotta be.
He's a great dog and a big favorite with the fellas.
Hank won him in a card game from some Marines in Frisco.

He's smart dog too!
Tommy's been training him
so when he leads our parades
Tige trots along right beside him.
He even turns when Tommy twirls his baton.
We think he wags his tail
in time to the bass drum.

Moose and his pals
still gripe about every little thing.
Maybe they'd think different
if they was in the army!

Madison is doing okay,
but wishes you was still here
to hold up the section's standards.
Andersen never will understand
how to play in tune and keep the beat
at the same time.

Charlie and Vern send their regards
and say you should save them
some of those French girls.
Write soon as you can.

Your old shipmate - Bert

* * *

The preceding postcard message is a complete fabrication as this U. S. Navy band's photo was never posted and has no marks to identify its time, place, or ship. Since they are in front of a brick wall they are obviously on shore. The uniforms for the bandsmen and the Bandmaster are an older style that sets them somewhere in time between 1913 and 1920. In this era most of the large battleships and cruisers in the U. S. Navy were assigned a band of about 24 musicians. Their main duty was to provide band concerts on board ship, or to lead the sailors whenever there was occasion to march in a parade. But bandsmen also pulled duty maintaining the ship like the band in my story from July 2018, Full Steam Ahead on the USS Georgia. 

Even if we never learn their name, a dog mascot in a photo is a very special bonus. My three favorite dogs found in my collection are pictured in The March of the Sailfish,  Music for a Desert Island, and for best of show, the 11th U.S. Cavalry Band. There's something about a dog's steadfast loyalty and boundless love that always improves a photograph. Years and years later when these sailors reminisced over their time in the service, they may have forgotten more than a few names of their shipmates, but I'm certain every one of them remembered that dog's name.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where Every Good Boy Deserves Favor.

Hi Henry's Minstrels and the Big Dog

There are little dogs, big dogs,
and lots of in-between dogs.
But this monstrous piebald dog
is in a category all his own!

He belongs to the tall man in the top hat.
That is, the man in the black top hat,
not the other men around him
wearing top hats of a lighter hue.

There are a great number of them too,
all wearing matching
double-breasted overcoats with tall satiny hats.
Two musicians have bass and contra-bass helicons
slung over their shoulders.

Most of the men are holding a musical instrument,
like the man on the right
with an unusual double bell bass/baritone euphonium.
On the left, one step back, a fellow bandsman
has a smaller variation, a rare double-bell tenor/alto horn.

The men also wear full knee-length spats
that gives their uniform
an oddly theatrical quality.
 

Yet the reason they present such a serious confident air
of musicians who know what they are about,
is because they are all in fact wearing
the traditional costume
of a Minstrel Show Band.

They are:

Hi Henry's Co.
 
Oakland Cal.  Feb. 24. 1899

Not counting that great dog
(I'll get back to him later,)
there are 32 minstrel men standing
on the stone steps of an imposing building
with a columned portico entrance.
They have either just finished or are about to start
a parade through Oakland's city streets
to announce their appearance at the Macdonough Theatre.

However the steps are not at the theatre
but instead lead up to the front entrance
of Oakland's Alameda County Hall of Records,
 where the county's recorder, clerk, and treasurer
conduct the public's business.

Oakland CA, Hall of Records, circa 1900

Hi Henry was the bandleader and solo cornet player of this minstrel troupe. His company included even more artists, advertising 50 star performers. They traveled together in two specially equipped  luxury rail coaches and were about midway on a long tour of the West Coast between Seattle to Los Angeles. In January 1899 they played Morosco's Grand Opera House in San Francisco across the bay from Oakland. Then in early February they were down in San Bernadino for a few days before returning to the Bay Area. 

Hi Henry's show followed a conventional minstrel format but this year it also incorporated the latest mania of flag-waving patriotism sweeping America. This jingoistic nationalism was the outcome of the Spanish-American War which recently from April to August 1898, after just 3 months, 3 weeks and 2 days of warfare, had awarded the United States with a global colonial empire.

Entertainers recognized an opportunity.
It was time for some kind of triumphant celebration.
Something loud and noisy, something big and flashy.

Like a battleship.

San Bernadino County Sun
05 February 1899

Hi Henry's band usually started their parades at 12 noon.  It was free music and made good publicity for their evening performance.

It was a program in which old minstrelsy disappears, and the new is given on board the warship Brooklyn, with the jackies in a bright merry making, and you will see the big guns, the revolving trurrets, the big search lights, the harbor of Santiago and the feat of Hobson and the Merrimac. 

Don't miss this because it is everywhere pronounced the greatest production of the day, either in or out of minstrelsy; you will see a correct makeup of Admiral Schley and Uncle Sam. And you will see and hear how the navy passes its hours away.

The show had clever songs, sprightly dancers, acrobats, comic skits, and lots of music from the band. Hi Henry was the chief feature playing popular tunes on his cornet and even imitating the sound of a "Scotch bagpipe" in a rendition of "The Campbells Are Coming" by using a special device of his own making.  According to reviews only the comedians in the troupe were 'blacked up".

 * * *

Hi Henry's Minstrel Co. was one of the most successful entertainment shows that showbiz could offer Americans at the turn of the 19th century. By 1899 the musical variety programs presented by traveling minstrel shows like Hi Henry's had become an accepted artform of American culture. It was popular not only in San Francisco but in London, Paris, and Berlin as well. It epitomized the brash energy of 19th century American with a cheeky mixture of ostentatious stagecraft and outrageous humor.

It was also very racist.

Oakland CA Tribune
18 February 1899

The first era of "burnt cork men" began before the Civil War in the 1830s when the Minstrel Show was developed by traveling companies of entertainers who mimicked the Southern plantation songs and dances of slaves by dressing up in blackface, i.e. "burnt.   cork" makeup. Before the war this minstrelsy, written and produced by white entertainers of course, portrayed enslaved black people as simple and cheerful folk, accepting their position in life. It introduced white Americans to the banjo and tambourine but it was not authentic African music in any way. By the 1850s this false and wildly distorted narrative was used partly to counter a growing sentiment in America for the abolition of slavery.

During the Civil War and after Lincoln's emancipation of the slaves, the fashion for minstrel shows declined. But in the 1870s-80s, during the turbulent reconstruction era, a new version of minstrel shows returned with a grand spectacle of musical theater using racist humor to lampoon African-American culture with grotesque stereotypes and crude slapstick jokes. These larger companies combined a more refined (i.e. louder) popular music style, mostly with brass bands, with black-faced comedians, singers, and dancers into a farcical parody of black life. All told with burlesque buffoonery in a mocking "negro" dialect. 

History is not kind to bad jokes, especially those told by prejudiced and intolerant people. What seemed funny to our ancestors can't be fully explained to our modern sensibility. This denigration by demeaning humor was likewise used against the Jewish, Dutch, Irish, and Italian immigrants too. To our 21st century hindsight it all seems very ugly and vicious.

Nonetheless minstrel shows occupy an important place in American culture and we must try to understand the context that made this music so popular. My feeble attempts to condense this difficult history are only so my readers can get the backstory to this photograph.

It really is a story about a dog.

Oakland CA Tribune
21 February 1899

Hi Henry's full name was Hiram F. Henry.  He was born in Buffalo, NY in 1844, the son of a merchant. In later years he sometimes used the honorific "Colonel" to acknowledge his Civil War service, which consisted of joining the regimental band of the 64th New York Volunteers at the age of 17. This service lasted just 12 months until 1862 when in the interest of economy his band like many others was mustered out of the Union army. After the war he worked as a cornet soloist with several of the new minstrel shows, before striking off with his own troupe in 1879.

By 1899, he was a very recognized musician due in part to his flamboyant self-promotion. His "golden cornet", diamond studded waistcoat, as well as his gigantic dog was all part of his celebrity image. It was a showbiz fashion imitated much later by many trumpet bandleaders like Doc Severinsen, Al Hirt, and Louis Armstrong. On February 25, 1899 the Oakland Tribune printed a very large portrait of Hi Henry in its amusement section.

Oakland CA Tribune
25 February 1899

It looks very like this next undated photo
that I recently acquired
that is captioned:

Souvenir of

Hi Henry's Minstrels.

With an irony that can't have escaped
the notice of the editors of the Oakland Tribune,
on that same page just below Hi Henry's portrait
was a fine engraving of another man in a top hat,
the African-American entertainer, Ernest Hogan.
He was the principal comedian and ballad singer of
the Black Patti Troubadours.

Oakland CA Tribune
25 February 1899

Ernest Hogan (1865 – 1909) was then a successful black comic who later in 1907 became the first African-American to produce and star in a Broadway show, The Oyster Man. He is also credited as the first composer/songwriter of ragtime music. In another twist on how complicated the history of minstrelsy is, Ernest Hogan performed in black face makeup using the same gross parody styles as the white minstrels, in so-called "coon songs" which he is credited for inventing!

Hogan's show in Oakland's Macdonough Theatre played the week after Hi Henry's Minstrel Co. performances and included more comedians, acrobats, champion cake-walkers, "coon songs", and a chorus of twenty voices. However unlike Hi Henry's minstrel show, the Black Patti Troubadours also included some some serious "operatic masterpieces."

Hogan belonged to a company that was not advertised as a minstrel show, but in most respects was  one, only the performers were African-Americans or so-called "ebony entertainers." But the opera came from its star, Mme. Sissieretta Jones, the Black Patti. Her full name was Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, (1868 – 1933) and she was an operatic soprano whose repertoire included grand opera, light opera, and popular music. Her sobriquet was coined by a music critic of the New York Clipper who compared her to the great Italian-French opera diva, Adelina Patti (1843 – 1919). Jones  was born in Portsmouth, VA but grew up in Providence, RI and trained at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music. In 1892 she sang at the White House for President Benjamin Harrison, and eventually performed for the next three presidents: Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as the British royal family.

Indianapolis Journal
21 September 1893

By 1895 Sissieretta Jones had sung for audiences in Europe, Australia, South America, South Africa, India, and the Caribbean, who had all marveled at her beautiful voice. Yet despite becoming the highest paid negro entertainer in the world, in the United States the barriers of racial division prevented her from performing at American opera houses as an equal of white performers. So in 1896, Sissieretta Jones formed her own company called The Black Patti Troubadours. For much of the 1898-99 season, her troupe followed Hi Henry's Minstrel Co. up and down the West Coast.

Sacramento CA Record-Union
10 February 1899

Both Hi Henry's Minstrel Co. and Sissieretta Jones' Troubadours found great success in performing this strange artform based on black racial stereotypes. As far as I know they were represented by different agencies but their theater circuits frequently followed the same route. Here in my home of Asheville, North Carolina both companies appeared in 1902, which is not unexpected of Hi Henry's troupe, but is remarkable for Black Patti's company. She got rave reviews, but needless to say her group found traveling America's segregated Southland more comfortable when using their own private  rail coaches.

Tyrone PA Daily Herald
02 March 1907

In March 1907, Hi Henry's Minstrels played Tyrone, PA.
The local newspaper printed large advertisements for their
"Entirely New Colossal Company of 50 All White Performers"

One notice featured an august portrait of Hi Henry,
in elegant white tie and tailcoat, minus top hat,
but this time with cornet.

The second notice displayed a circus style illustration
showing two chorus lines of men in costume,
the front row in blackface, top hats, and garish spotted trousers.

Tyrone PA Daily Herald
04 March 1907

Laughter and music are ephemeral things. In show business nothing stays fresh forever and the popularity of the blackface gags and sentimental cornet melodies of Hi Henry's Minstrel Show began to wane in the 1900s. With health concerns Henry cut back on performing though his company still toured. After he recovered from a serious illness in September 1908, Hi Henry even had the dubious pleasure of reading about his death in newspapers which prematurely reported on his demise. Real fake news. He managed to live another 12 years until January 31, 1920 when he died at his home in New York City on West 72th Street.  He was 75 years old.

Greenville PA Evening Record
02 February 1920

The Greenville, PA Evening Record recalled how Hi Henry always appeared at the head of his troupe in the parade, first on foot, later on a gorgeous "safety" bicycle, later on in a horseless carriage. It didn't mention the dog.

***

But I can hear readers ask,
"What's the story on Hi Henry's mammoth dog?"

His name was General Shafter.
He was a Siberian Bloodhound.
 

And shortly after his photo was taken
in front of Hi Henry's Minstrel Co.
on February 24, 1899,
General Shafter tragically drowned
in the Menominee River
at Marinette, Wisconsin.

Cincinnati OH Post
23 May 1899

When I first acquired this photograph, I thought the dog was an early version of a Great Dane. But this pooch was more densely muscled than a Dane, almost like a Mastiff, yet taller like a small pony. It turns out that this breed is no longer a standard dog we might see at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The Siberian Bloodhound does not even show up in a YouTube search except as the name of a Russian rock band.

And yet it was once the dog of nightmares. 

Poster for Uncle Tom's Cabin
Source: Wikimedia

Perhaps the most influential book in America history, was Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. It was a gripping novel about the evils of slavery and became a sensation for its abolitionist viewpoint. It was a monumental bestseller that by 1857 had been translated into 20 languages. Even after the war it remained popular when touring theater companies presented a dramatization of the novel. It was very controversial in its time and long afterward too, in part because its portrayal of slaves used the same demeaning stereotypes and ugly racial conventions that were used in minstrel shows. But in the decade before the war it helped change public opinion and build a political will to end slavery in America.

But my focus is really on the dog. In the stage productions the big scene has Eliza and her child attempting to escape the slave catchers by crossing an ice bound river. Though the novel does not describe the dogs much, if at all, the theater producers wanted to show the biggest, meanest dogs they could find. What they got were these so-called Siberian Bloodhounds, also known sometimes as Cuban Bloodhounds. These dogs were not the droopy eyed, flop eared Bloodhound that the AKC recognizes today. They were powerful running dogs bred for one thing, chasing people. For centuries in the new world they protected soldiers, guarded prisons, and chased runaway slaves. And in 1899, Hi Henry's dog had a special significance that is unfamiliar to Americans 119 years later.

Racine WI Journal Times
23 May 1899

On May 23, 1899 the Racine WI Journal Times reported on the tragedy.

A Siberian bloodhound, valued at $5,000, belonging to Hi. Henry, the minstrel man, drowned at Marinette yesterday. The dog apparently mistook a bank of foam, which had collected on a log jam, for snow and jumped into it and disappeared. C. F. Converse, treasurer of the Henry company, jumped in after the animal, and nearly lost his life in the attempt to save the dog. Hi. Henry has offered $100 reward for the recovery of the carcass and men and boys have been dragging the river for it. The dog had taken many prizes at bench shows.

* * *

The dog, General Shafter, was named after William Rufus Shafter, a Union officer of the 7th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks in 1862, yet concealed his wounds so as to continue to fight the next day. For this he was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism. Later in 1864, he was promoted to colonel of the 17th United States Colored Infantry leading that regiment at the Battle of Nashville. After the war Shafter remained in regular army service, commanding the negro soldiers of the 24th Infantry, the so-called Buffalo Soldiers, in campaigns against the Cheyenne, Comanche, Kickapoo and Kiowa Indians in Texas. It earned him the nickname "Pecos Bill."

Major General William Rufus Shafter (1835 – 1906)

In 1898 at the start of the war with Spain, General Shafter, despite being 63 years old, weighing over 300 lbs, and suffering from gout, was given command of the American expedition to Cuba. Though illness prevented him from going to the front, he directed several important engagements forcing a major confrontation at the city of Santiago. Due to heavy losses and limited resources Shafter was inclined to retreat but instead reestablished a siege of Santiago which proved successful. With the assistance of the US Naval Squadron, General Shafter convinced the Spanish to surrender the city on July 16, 1898. The fighting in Cuba quickly came to an end and earned General "Pecos Bill" Shafter a new honor.

And what better way to ride the excitement of a victorious war than to name a minstrel company's mascot dog after a celebrated General officer. We can only wonder if dog and general ever met.

Today we read about the savagery of Pit Bulls. But in the 19th century, the demon dogs were these menacing Siberian Bloodhounds. In this 1898 advertisement for Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery, (which perhaps the real General Shafter had sampled) it's easy to recognize the ferocious bloodhound in pursuit of the afflicted man. Notice also the dark rider and dogs in the upper right corner.

St. Joseph MO Gazette-Herald
02 October 1898

When I started writing this dog's story, I had no idea I would encounter so many dimensions to this photograph. We may never understand 19th century America's attraction to minstrel shows but I think it's important to know the context of what people once enjoyed as entertainment. Vaudeville shows, early cinema, Broadway revues, radio variety shows, and television sitcoms, all have deep roots in the traditions of the minstrel show genre. Similarly the tunes Hi Henry played on his cornet and the folk songs Sissieretta Jones sang are connected to the evolution of ragtime, jazz, and modern pop music. It may be a complicated and uncomfortable history but we shouldn't ignore it. It might bite back one day.

And I like to think General Shafter, the Siberian bloodhound
who went running into a river chasing foam,
was a lovable goofy dog
with no more sense
than a Pomeranian.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where it's always some dog's life.