George Dallas Sherman


George Dallas Sherman was an American bandleader.
Sherman was born in Richmond, Vermont, the son of Hathaway and Relief Sherman. At the age of 14, he joined the Richmond Cornet Band and soon became its leader. He left this band in 1864 to join the 9th Vermont Infantry as a musician during the American Civil War. After the war he came to live in Winooski, where he married Mary A. Thompson and became a band teacher.
In 1878 he organized, with much coaxing from the citizens of Burlington, Sherman's Military Band, made up of musicians from the dormant Queen City Band. This band came to be well known all over the East as one of the finest touring Military Bands.
After Sherman retired from the band in 1917, the group became known as the Burlington Military Band under the exceptional directorship of Dr. Joseph Lechnyr, an influential Vermont musician. George continued to live on Sherman Street until November 3, 1927, the date of the great flood. On that day, while crossing the street near his home at the corner of Sherman and Battery Street at the age of 83, he was struck by a car and died two hours later of multiple lacerations and a fractured skull. His funeral was attended by Grand Army of the Republic comrades, and the Masonic Ritual was held at his graveside. He left three children at the time of his death.
Although Sherman is well remembered as one of the first leaders of what is known today as the Burlington Concert Band, he is also remembered for his fine marches, some of which were used by John Philip Sousa in his concert tours. A complete list of his compositions follows. The has only three of Sherman's pieces, as many were lost in a fire in the same year as his death.

Marches

Listed in the Daily Free Press, Jan 26th 1888
Published by Jean Missud of Salem, Massachusetts
Listed in the Daily Free Press, March 28 1891
Published by Oliver Ditson & Co.
Listed in the Daily Free Press, March 31 1892
Listed in the Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music Vol II, October 1991
the Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music : Composers and Their Music William H. Rehrig, Paul E. Bierley October 1991