Edward Mack, prolific composer of Civil War marches
Of the 412 marches related to the Civil War in the Library of Congress Civil War Sheet Music Collection, 26 are by E. Mack. I never suspected that 6% of the collection would be written by someone I had never heard of. I was not surprised to see so many unfamiliar names among march composers, but I never thought the composer of the most marches would be such a cipher, and I never thought one man would write more than twice as much as second most prolific composer.George Root's 12 contributions (mostly arrangements and not original compositions) include three different editions of "How It Marches The Flag Of The Union". In third place, Septimus Winner composed seven marches and arranged three more. There are two editions of his "Col. Ellsworth's Funeral March." These composers may not be household names now, but they both had national reputations during their lifetimes.Among Mack's marches in the collection, there are three editions of "General Grant's Grand March," two of "Major General Sheridan's Grand Victory March," and an arrangement of Henry Clay Work's "Marching Thro' Georgia." That still leaves 22 original marches. Who is this person?According to the Keffer Collection of Sheet Music at the University of Pennsylvania, his full name is Edward Mack. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1826) and his parents emigrated to the United States when he was 5. [MORE]
