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Fort Sumter Quick Step, Composed & respectfully dedicated to Major Robt. Anderson.
New York: Published by Firth, Pond & Co., 547 Broadway; Pittsburgh: H. Kleber & Bro.; Cincinnati: C.Y. Fonda; Boston: O. Ditson & Co., 1861. Folio (13.375” x 10”), original lithographic wrappers. 7 pp., incl. title page. Pencil annotation at upper-right corner of front wrapper. CONDITION: Very good, later tape repair to wrapper hinge. The stated tenth edition of this quickstep dedicated to Major Robert Anderson, the commander of Fort Sumter when it was attacked by Confederates, with a fine lithographic portrait of Anderson on the title page situated above two American flags, an eagle and serpent, and a moonlit view of the Fort. This popular piece of sheet music was published in the same year as the attack, and probably first appeared within a few months, when the celebration of Anderson was at its height. Soon after the Christmas Day preceding the Battle, Anderson led his men to Fort Sumter on a moonlit night and raised the thirty-three star U.S. flag over the fort the next day. Beginning on April 14th, 1861, Anderson bravely led the Union defense against the Confederacy’s brutal thirty-four hour bombardment. Having held out as long as possible and foreseeing the inevitable as the Fort burned, Anderson surrendered and ordered his remaining troops to evacuate. In spite of their defeat, “upon emerging from Fort Sumter, Anderson found himself a national hero…an estimated 100,000 people gathered in Manhattan’s Union Square…to salute the 33-star flag he had rescued from the fort after its surrender. The man and the flag then went on tour…recruiting military volunteers…for the war effort” (“Robert Anderson”). In addition to their conventional patriotic function, the flags that appear in the cover illustration are probably meant to evoke the famous Fort Sumter flag, although the number of stars differs. Firth, Pond, & Company were prominent publishers of sheet music, and sold pianos, flutes, and guitars in New York from the 1830s through the late 1860s. John Firth (1789–1864) was born in England and relocated to the United States in 1810 to serve in the military, where he met future business partner William Hall (1796–1873). Following the War of 1812, both were employed by New York flute maker and sheet music publisher Edward Riley. They left the Riley workshop by 1820, and established Firth & Hall a year later. In 1833 they met Albany-born Sylvanus Pond (1792–1871) and the company became Firth, Hall, & Pond, after which it “experienced much success in music publishing, retailing, and manufacture of musical instruments” and became the exclusive publisher of “the father of American music,” Stephen Foster (“Musical Legacy”). Hall left the business in the late 1840s, and it continued successfully until 1867, when it was bought by the Oliver Ditson Company of Boston.
Item #8667
Price: $275.00
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