25th Infantry Band News Coverage Timeline
The 25th Infantry in Missoula
In May of 1888, four companies of the 25th Infantry arrived at Fort Missoula. Originally formed in 1869, the 25th Infantry was one of four regiments of Black soldiers created in the post-Civil War re-organization of the United States Army. Other companies of Black soldiers, including several cavalry companies from the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments, moved into other forts in the Montana and Dakota territories. As soldiers at frontier forts, the regiments' primary duty was to continue the United States' campaign to remove Native American peoples from their lands and open those lands up to White settlement. During the decade of their tenure at Fort Missoula, the 25th Infantry did not participate in any major battles against Indigenous fighters, but did engage in smaller skirmishes.While stationed at Fort Missoula, soldiers and civilians alike reported pleasant relations between the fort and the town. Although Missoula was not immune from racial discrimination, the town embraced the regiment. The most high profile racist incident during the regiment's stay was when Army Chaplain Theophilus Stewart was refused entry to the Florence Hotel dining room on account of his race. The Missoulian gave front page billing to Stewart's written demand for an apology from the hotel managers and a change in their policy, which he received shortly thereafter. Soldiers later reported that of all the towns in which they had been stationed, Missoula was the most welcoming. By the time the regiment left in 1898, reassigned to the front lines of the Spanish-American war in Cuba, the entire town turned out to see them off.
The 25th Infantry Band
Fort Missoula served as the regional headquarters for the 25th Infantry. As a result, the 25th Infantry Band was stationed at the fort. Within a month of their arrival in Missoula, the 25th Infantry Band played at the Missoula High School graduation ceremony, to general acclaim. The band would go on to become a fixture of Missoula public life, playing at public holidays, civic events, and even privately organized charity events and political rallies. Their visibility and the quality of their music served to bridge the gap between Missoulians and the soldiers, and Missoula citizens quickly became extremely proud not only of the band but of the infantry companies as a whole.Fort concerts and events provided further opportunities for integration and mingling between soldiers and townspeople. The band regularly gave concerts, to which the public were invited, where they played not only traditional classical or patriotic pieces, but also popular songs for the audience to sing along with. For some concerts, the lyrics were even provided in advance, due to popular demand. Soldiers at the fort also threw parties, organized dinners, and held dances, all with music provided by the band, giving Missoulians more chances to interact with the soldiers.
The band's popularity spread across the Montana territory. Although they mostly stayed in and around Missoula, on occasion the band was invited to play in other cities. Butte requested -- and received -- special dispensation from the Secretary of War to invite the band to play at an Emancipation Day celebration in 1895. Helena hosted the band for a full month in 1898, where they proved extremely popular and in demand. When a national paper circulated an editorial attacking the 25th Infantry as a whole on the basis of their race, the Helena Daily Herald published a response, vigorously defending the regiment. As part of the defense, the paper invoked the band, declaring them one of the best in the United States.
The 25th Infantry Band Timeline Project
The goal of the 25th Infantry Band Timeline Project is to capture contemporaneous newspaper coverage of the band. Newspapers offer a look into the role of the band within the larger Missoula community as reporters noted their presence at events big and small. This project aims to compile surviving coverage of the band from across the state, to preserve and highlight the importance of the band, not only to the 25th Infantry and Fort Missoula, but to the Missoula community and even the Montana Territory as a whole.Each article included in this project is available in two formats: as a scanned image file of the original article and as a text transcription. Transcriptions preserve any spelling errors and typos present in the original articles. Transcriptions for any image can be viewed as image annotations, by clicking the 'annotations' option below an image. Similarly, the relevant article scan is linked at the bottom of each text transcription page.
The articles have been compiled into two parallel timelines, one of the images and one of the transcriptions, which can be accessed by clicking on the buttons below. To see a complete list of articles and transcriptions, select the Sitemap button. These pages can also be accessed through the table of contents icon, in the top left corner of the page.
The Museum at Fort Missoula acknowledges that we are in the homelands of the Salish and Kalispel people. We offer our respect for their history and culture, and for their wisdom in caring for this place for the generations to come.