1st Brigade Band, The

In 1864 eighteen men from the Brodhead Brass Band enlisted in the Union Army as the band of the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 15th Army Corps. They left their rural Wisconsin homes to participate, under the command of General William T. Sherman, in the campaigns of Northern Georgia and the Carolinas. The "Tradition of Excellence" that these men established, more than 130 years ago lives on today with the members of Wisconsin's 1st Brigade Band.