Photo from 7th C.A.C. Band Letterhead, 1903
Historic Music of Newport Collection

John T. Freeman was born in Fermoy, Ireland in 1860. By 1861, his family lived in Edinburgh, Scotland. We don’t know much about his childhood yet, but have some information about his musical and military life before he came to the United States.

According to the 1914 Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Time, he “graduated from the Kneller Hall Musical School, of London. He served four years in the British army as bandmaster and was in one of the India campaigns.”

Kneller Hall was the home of the Royal Military School of Music from 1857 to 2021.

From census records, we know that Freeman arrived in the United States some time in 1880. While living in Chicago, Freeman enlisted in the Army in 1892, becoming the bandmaster of the 2nd United States Cavalry Band. The band was stationed at Fort Wingate, New Mexico.

Fort Wingate, New Mexico in 1873
Photo from the National Archives and Records Administration

1892 Army Enlistment Records, from Fold3.com

Freeman enlisted in the army on May 9, 1892. The two articles below, from an Albuquerque newspaper, give more background about his time before enlistment. He had conducted the Illinois Guard Band in Chicago and, before coming to the United States, was a cornet soloist for the 74th Highlanders Regiment Band.

The articles also show the improvements he made to the 2nd Cavalry Band. The article on the right includes the programs from the first two concerts he conducted in New Mexico. (Click on each article to easily read them.)

It seems Freeman turned a small struggling band into a very good band very quickly. He would gain some popularity in the region as well, as you can see in the below advertisement for Hood’s Sarsaparilla.

Arizona Daily Star, November 30, 1898.

By the time the sarsaparilla endorsement came out, Freeman had already transferred east to lead the band of the 7th United States Artillery Regiment stationed at Fort Slocum. The fort was located on the western end of Long Island Sound in New York. His enlistment with the 7th was dated March 22, 1898.

March 1898 Army Enlistment Record, from Fold3.com

Freeman may be the conductor in this undated photo of the Fort Slocum Band. He is seated in the middle of the second row, to the right of the drum major wearing the shako (tall fluffy hat).

Fort Slocum Band, undated photo
courtesy of www.ibew.org.uk

His time at Fort Slocum was filled with some excitement! Freeman and several musicians barely escaped a fire at the Fort in early 1898. They had to leap to safety from second story windows.

The New York Times, March 31, 1899

A few months later, the band was transferred to Fort Adams. The residents of New Rochelle, NY were not happy that they were losing their band. The members of the 7th Artillery Band were also not thrilled about the move to Newport due to planned concerts that they had to cancel.

The Sun, May 26, 1899

On February 18, 1901, the 7th United States Artillery was redesignated as the 7th Coastal Artillery Corps. John T. Freeman would now be the bandmaster of the 7th C.A.C. Band. The change is listed in the February 1901 Fort Return shown below.

Fort Adams Post Return, February 1901
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

The 7th Band became a staple of Newport’s musical life. The band marched in parades as far away as Boston and performed at the mansions of Newport’s elite.

Austin American Statesman, September 9, 1911

Freeman continued his tenure as the bandmaster of the 7th C.A.C. Band, re-enlisted in March of 1913, planning that to be his last re-enlistment before retirement.

On April 13, 1914, John T. Freeman died while walking to the Fort Adams bandstand for a rehearsal. His obituary appeared in the Newport Daily News that day and noted he had been suffering with heart trouble for some time.”