Battle of Washita Gary Gackstatter

Band
Number of Players:Standard
Copyright:2006
Piccolo
Flute 1/2
Oboe 1/2
Bassoon
Clarinet in Bb 1
Clarinet in Bb 2/3
Bass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone 1
Alto Saxophone 2
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Horn in F 1
Horn in F 2
Trumpet in Bb 1
Trumpet in Bb 2
Trumpet in Bb 3
Trombone 1
Trombone 2
Trombone 3
Euphonium
(Baritone T.C.)
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion 1 (wind chimes, triangle, suspended cymbal, ride cymbal, sound tube, snare drum, large drum)
Percussion 2 (suspended cymbal, bass drum, sound tube)
Percussion 3 (2 concert toms, crash cymbals, large drum, sound tube)
Percussion 4 (bells, large drum)
Percussion 5 [2 players] (xylophone, vibraphone, marimba, large drum)
1. Dawn
2. The Battle
3. The Horses
4. The Prisoner's March Home

At daybreak after a 3-day blizzard, November 27th, 1868, the 7th Regiment of the U.S. Calvary, commanded by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, attacked and massacred a Cheyenne village on the banks of the Washita River in central Oklahoma, then Indian territory. During the battle, in which the troops killed more than 100 men, women, and children, burned the village, then slaughtered 850 horses, and Custer's military band played his favorite march, Garry Owen on their frozen instruments. It was later found that the Cheyenne village was led by Black Kettle, a well-known chief, who worked all his life for peace with the whites, even signing peace treaties at Medicine Ledge. He and his wife were found face down, shot in the back, lying in the river. Custer was proclaimed a hero after this, the only Indian' battle he ever won.
Gary Gackstatter