Dennison Wheelock (June 14, 1871 – March 10, 1927) was an Oneida band conductor, composer, and cornet soloist.Laurence M. Hauptman, "From Carlisle to Carnegie Hall: The Musical Career of Dennison Wheelock", in The Oneida Indians in the Age of Allotment, 1860-1920, (editors) Laurence M. Hauptman and Gordon L. McLester, Volume 253, The Civilization of the American Indian Series, (hereinafter "Hauptman"),(2006), p. 112. Also, see Elaine Goodale Eastman, Pratt: The Red Man's Moses, (hereinafter "Eastman"), (1935), p.212. Wheelock was the most prominent Indian American band leader of the turn of the century and was nominated to serve as the bandmaster of the United States Marine Band.Hauptman, P. 122. At the age of 40 he became an American Indian rights activist and attorney, and within several years was arguing cases for Indian nations at the United States Court of Claims and US Supreme Court.
Wheelock was born in the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. He went to Pennsylvania to be educated at the Carlisle Indian School, returning later for study at Dickinson Preparatory School. Wheelock was appointed as the first Oneida bandmaster of the internationally acclaimed Carlisle Indian School Band, which performed at world fairs, expositions, and presidential inaugurals. While at the school, he composed the Sousa-inspired "Carlisle Indian School March." In 1900 he debuted his three-part symphony, Aboriginal Suite, at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
In 1911 Wheelock was among the 50 founding members of the Society of American Indians, the first national American Indian rights organization developed and run by American Indians. He had read the law and passed the bar that year, practicing first in Wisconsin. As he represented more Indian nations in his practice, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he represented them in actions against the government in the United States Court of Claims and the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1980, to honor him and the celebrated Carlisle Indian Band, Dennison Wheelock's Bandstand was reconstructed on the site of the original at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Early life
Dennison Wheelock was born June 14, 1871, in the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, second child of James A. Wheelock and Sophia Doxtator.Dennison was baptized at the Hobart Episcopal Church. Hauptman, P. 114. He had an older brother Charles and a total of eight other brothers and sisters, and half-siblings. Dennison grew up impoverished, with the Oneida farm community facing pressures to harvest its timber and a federal push for the allotment of tribal lands to individual households.Hauptman, P. 114. Dennison followed Charles in playing the cornet. He was impressed by a visiting Tuscarora musician, who taught the youth music reading and simple composition for several months.Hauptman, P. 115 Dennison also heard the popular band music of John Philip Sousa at Wisconsin fairs. Locally, the Oneida Union Band and the Oneida National Band were prominent in community events and throughout the Midwest.
Carlisle Indian School
In January 1884 at age 13, Wheelock wrote to Captain Richard Henry Pratt, Superintendent of the Carlisle Indian School, referring to his "limited musical education" and budding interest in music. In 1885, Wheelock enrolled in the Carlisle Indian School to study under Pratt.Hauptman, P. 116. Hamilton-Oneida Academy, now Hamilton College, was a seminary founded in 1793 by Presbyterian Samuel Kirkland as part of his missionary work with the Oneida in New York State, their traditional territory.
In June 1890, Dennison graduated from Carlisle. He returned to Oneida, Wisconsin, where he worked as a teacher and a justice of the peace, before returning to Carlisle within a year. With Pratt's recommendation, he enrolled in the nearby Dickinson Preparatory School. Dickinson College provided Carlisle Indian students with access to college-level education through the Dickinson Preparatory School ("Conway Hall"). Dennison attended Dickinson Preparatory school from 1891 to 1892. In 1892, Pratt appointed Dennison as Carlisle's bandmasterHauptman, P. 123."Hauptman, P. 121">Hauptman, P. 121Hauptman, P. 123
Music at Carlisle During the Progressive Era, from the late 19th century until the onset of World War I, Native American performers were major draws and money-makers. Millions of visitors at world fairs, exhibitions, and parades throughout the United States and Europe saw Native Americans portrayed as the vanishing race, exotic peoples, and objects of modern comparative anthropology.David R.M. Beck, The Myth of the Vanishing Race, University of Montana, 2000. L.G. Moses, Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883-1933, (hereinafter "Wild West Shows and Images") (1996), pp.131, 140. Reformers and Progressives fought a war of words and images against the popular Wild West shows at world fairs, expositions and parades. They opposed theatrical portrayals of Wild Westers as vulgar heathen stereotypes. In contrast, Carlisle students were portrayed as a new generation of Native American leadership embracing civilization, education and industry.
Development of the Carlisle music program was funded mainly by band members and private donations.Hauptman, P. 118. Around 1879, a visiting philanthropist from Boston reported hearing "tom-toms" and Indian singing in the dormitories. Pratt preferred that the "tom-toms" stopped, but said, "It wouldn't be fair to do unless I can give them something else as good, or better, on the same line. If you will give me a set of brass instruments, I will give them to the "tom-tom boys" and they can toot on them, and this will stop the "tom-tom." The philanthropist subsequently provided the school with brass instruments.
While classical European music was emphasized at Carlisle, the students also sang and drummed traditional tribal music in their dormitories. They played samples of such music at assembly and local community programs. Later, Wheelock featured American Indian music with classical European music in his opera, Aboriginal Suite.On June 20, 1890, the Indian Helper, the Carlisle school publication, noted that an assembly was "enlivened by music. We had duets, singing duets, choirs singing, quartets and sextets, operatic and playing, by babies and old men, music on the horns and music without, red music and white music, and all kinds of music."Hauptman, Pp. 113–114, 116.
Carlisle Indian Band
Pratt established the Carlisle Indian School band in 1880. Dennison was the first American Indian bandmaster at Carlisle before being succeeded by his brother James.Barbara Landis, "About the Carlisle Indian Industrial School", http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/erdrich/boarding/carlisle.htm Under the leadership of Dennison Wheelock and James Wheelock, the Carlisle Indian Band earned an international reputation of musical excellence.Eastman, p. 212. The Carlisle Indian Band performed at world fairs, expositions, concert venues and at every national presidential inaugural celebration until the school closed. During this period, Dennison continued to create compositions outside of the band, including a symphony.Hauptman, P. 125.
Marriage Louise LaChapelle (Wheelock), a Chippewa from the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota, arrived as a student at Carlisle two years earlier than Dennison.
They met, courted, married and had four children. Richard Edmund Wheelock,Richard Edmund Wheelock (December 5, 1896-October 15, 1929) Paul Wheelock,Paul Wheelock (August 18, 1899-May 15, 1900). Paul is buried at the relocated Indian cemetery at the US Army war College. Haupman, P. 117. Leeland Lloyd Wheelock,Leeland Lloyd Wheelock (January 28, 1902-January 26, 1903) and Louise Frances Wheelock.Louise Frances Wheelock (April 20, 1903-June 18, 1938) Their first two children were born in Carlisle.
Captain Richard Henry Pratt Captain Pratt was Dennison's mentor and school father. Further, Carlisle, Pennsylvania was Dennison's second home. Wheelock corresponded with Pratt for over 35 years and confided in each other throughout their lives. Wheelock had affection for Pratt, his wife and Carlisle. Wheelock shared Pratt's views. They focused upon the release of Indians from federal control, full citizenship, equal opportunity and education in public schools.Haupman, P.120,122,130. From 1921 to 1922, Captain Pratt lobbied President Warren G. Harding to nominate Wheelock as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.Hauptman, P. 117.
James Riley Wheelock
Under the leadership of Dennison Wheelock and James Wheelock, the Carlisle Indian Band earned an international reputation of musical excellence.Eastman, p. 212. Benjey, p. 308. James Riley Wheelock was a younger brother of bandmaster Dennison Wheelock and graduated from Carlisle in 1896.James Riley Wheelock (Unknown- Jan 11, 1941) Like Dennis, James attended the prestigious Dickinson College Preparatory School after completing his Carlisle studies. When Dennison resigned as Bandmaster in 1900, James succeeded him. In 1903, James studied music and his specialty, clarinet, in Leipzig, Germany.Journal of Band Research, Volumes 30-31, 1994, and http://arts.unl.edu/music/faculty/peter-m-lefferts.
In 1914, the Harrisburg Telegraph reported that James Riley Wheelock, director of the Enola Band, was performing in clarinet solos and was one of the best clarinet players in Pennsylvania.Harrisburg Telegraph, March 10, 1914, p.2 During World War I, Wheelock was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, where he conducted a black regimental band. After the war, he conducted the U.S. Indian Band through the 1920s.Hauptman, P. 114. See Journal of Band Research, Volumes 30-31, 1994, and http://arts.unl.edu/music/faculty/peter-m-lefferts.
International fame
Carlisle Indian Band
Inspired by the works of John Philip Sousa, Wheelock was frequently compared to him. Wheelock was later nominated to succeed Sousa as the bandmaster of United States Marine Band. Wheelock relished Sousa's music, known for American march music.Bierley, Paul Edmund, "The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa". University of Illinois Press, 2006. Sousa organized a band the year he left the U.S. Marine Band, touring from 1892–1931 and performing at 15,623 concerts
The Aboriginal Suite
In 1897, Wheelock recruited 70 students from Indian boarding schools from around the country to form an all-Indian student band.Haupman, P. 126. With the group, Wheelock planned to perform a symphony he had written, Aboriginal Suite, at the Paris Exposition of 1900 and the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York. Wheelock was thought to be influenced by the music of European composer Edvard Grieg.Hauptman, P. 126.
On March 28, 1900, Wheelock and the U.S. Indian Band performed his Aboriginal Suite at Carnegie Hall, a prestigious venue in New York City. The band additionally performed portions of Gounod's opera Faust (opera) and Meyerbeer's The Huguenots. The concert was acclaimed by theatregoers: "A large and genuinely enthusiastic audience greeted the reservation musicians, forcing them to respond to repeated encores."Hauptman, P. 127.
Wheelock said in an interview,
The original Indian music is a strange thing. It is devoid of harmony, but the melody and time are there, and it is easily harmonized. Some great critics say that our aboriginal music is the same as played by all primitive people world over. Chinese music itself is built on the same principle and I am planning out the composition called the evolution of music. I hope to show the growth of harmony. First, so many musicians will come out in Indian costume, play some primitive melody. Others will follow playing something more advanced, and so on until the whole band is on stage and we are rendering the best grand opera.Hauptman, P. 128.