By Mary Thomason-Morris

This somewhat altered old Chevy commercial ditty from the early 1960s almost works to describe how we know the Fourth of July. Of course, every child is taught that we celebrate because on the 4th of July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed.

It is for certain, that hot July day in Philadelphia, the men at the Continental Congress were not thinking of the words in the title. Most of them were trying to keep a word out of their minds—hanging! It was, “Win this war or hang as a traitor.” Luckily for them, and us, five years later they won, and all of them could now legally be called Founding Fathers.

The Revolutionary War was already a year old before Thomas Jefferson put pen to paper. In June 1775, Congress called for 10 rifle companies to be formed, two from the Virginia frontier. Berryville resident Daniel Morgan and Shepherdstown resident Hugh Stephenson answered the call and gathered frontiersmen with accurate-shooting long rifles and woods skills.

On July 14, 1775, Daniel and Hugh were to meet at Shepherdstown to begin the march toward General Washington’s army at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Daniel’s company got a jump on Hugh’s, and the march became a race between the two companies. Daniel arrived on August 6, 1775; Hugh on August 11, 1775. No matter who won this race, marching 24–26 miles a day and losing not one man, is a feat.

This race has become known over the years as the Beeline March. The U.S. Army says that these 10 rifle companies raised in July of 1775, including the two Virginia companies captained by Hugh Stephenson and Daniel Morgan, were the foundation of today’s United States armed forces.

With his military service during the French & Indian War, in the Virginia militia, renowned leadership during the Revolutionary War, ending the Whiskey Rebellion, and serving one term in Congress, Daniel Morgan accrued 45 years of service to our country—surely qualifying for the title of Founding Father.

Morgan died in his daughter’s home on July 6, 1802, and was buried at Old Stone Presbyterian Church in Winchester. Afterwards, except sporadically, his accomplishments were ignored. In 1868 his badly vandalized grave was moved to Mt. Hebron Cemetery. Again, except briefly, Daniel Morgan was ignored. Even in 1921, when a cannon finally arrived to mark his resting spot, it turned out to be a Civil War-era naval siege gun, not a revolutionary war-era cannon. Luckily, the despised gun served its country during World War II by being removed and melted down for ammunition.

Things stayed quiet at Morgan’s grave until August 1951, when Morgan’s third-great granddaughter sent undertakers from South Carolina on a mission to remove her ancestor’s body to the battlefield at Cowpens. This visit stirred a hornet’s nest. The conflict for ownership of old Daniel actually ended up in the pictorial pages of Life Magazine—South Carolina men with shovels on one side, Winchester notables and legal eagles on the other. Thank goodness for poor Daniel Winchester prevailed, and again things were peaceful in Mt. Hebron Cemetery.

In April 1953 a project to finally mark Daniel Morgan’s grave came to fruition. A marble marker was placed beside the grave. It is inscribed:

“The people of Winchester, Virginia, dedicate this memorial

to the patriotism and valor of General Daniel Morgan

in the cause of American Independence.”

Think about Daniel Morgan, the ‘Old Wagoner’, as you eat a hot dog or watch the beautiful fireworks this Fourth of July, and say a ‘thank you’ in his direction.

Foreign Exchange Program: Setting the Facts Straight

In the letter to the editor entitled “Restore the Foreign Exchange Program,” Mr. Bigelow did not quite have his facts straight. The Board did not reject the foreign exchange proposals for budgetary reasons. They declared the submitted proposals “unacceptable.”

Each of the Foreign Exchange proposals is available on the school board website as a matter of public record.  If you take the time to review the proposals you will find, as I did, that the CGI Greenheart proposal does not have an authorizing signature. Without an authorizing signature the proposal is incomplete and therefore, should not be considered. The other proposal, from PAX, is not what I would consider to be a professional proposal. The proposal is sloppily handwritten and poorly constructed.  It is my experience that the quality of a proposal is a predictor of the quality of the work that will be delivered.  Therefore, if I were making the decision, I would reject the proposal.

Whether the Board dismissed the proposals for the reasons I have laid out or not, is irrelevant.  The board rejected the two proposals because they found them to be unacceptable, not because they chose to discontinue the Foreign Exchange program.  Rejecting the proposals is not the same as discontinuing the program. I applaud the Board and their actions in this situation. They have sent a message to all service providers that Clarke County Schools will not settle for second best. I hope they keep up the good work.

— Pat Dickinson, Berryville

By Claire Stuart

“Music is the universal language of mankind.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Every culture has its music. It brings communities together, whether to play or to listen, and it is with us at every important event, from weddings to funerals and everything in between.

The Clarke County Community Band, sponsored by the Clarke County Board of Supervisors, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, has been spreading music across the Shenandoah Valley for over 20 years.

Clyde Crosswell served as Conductor from the band’s inception in 1992 until 2000. He recalls that he was working with the high school band when some students, teachers, parents and community members expressed that they would like to get together and have a band. The music bug bites many people when they are still in grade school, and they go on to play in their high schools bands. But after high school, there are few opportunities to continue playing for those who don’t become professional musicians.

Crosswell himself began playing saxophone in the 5th grade and never left music behind. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and became a member of the U. S. Marine Corps Band, first as a player, then as a conductor, and eventually became its Director of Music. He served for 29 years, including the Viet Nam War.

The community band started with about 25-30 members and has grown to over 50, with 40 or more players participating in any given concert. It includes players of all ages, ranging from high-schoolers to seniors, at all playing levels and with various musical backgrounds.

Steve Stephens, Associate Conductor 1995-2009, also brought military band experience into the community band. A 28-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he served as Drum Major of the United States Air Force Band.

Former Conductor (2000-2009) John Ford was a music educator in public schools for 38 years.

Larry Correll, Conductor for the past four years, is a percussionist and organist with 40 years as a church musician and music educator. He is organist at the First Baptist Church in Winchester and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Education at Shenandoah University.

Jessica Tavenner teaches music at Boyce Elementary. In addition, she is Assistant Director for the Clarke County High School Marching Band. She took a break from the community band to accompany the marching band during their season but intends to return in November when the marching band season is done.

“I love our community band and have been in it off and on since I was in 7th grade,” she says. “I was Assistant Band Director for a while and now I am back to playing trumpet.”

Crosswell says that the band was founded to be inclusive. Anyone who wants to play in the band is welcome. There are no auditions and no membership fees.

“If they want to play, the band finds a place for them,” says Crosswell. “They find out themselves if they can make it or not, and some might decide it’s not for them. They self-select.”

The band tries to play one concert a month, and sometimes two, according to Conductor Correll. They have played at churches, schools and retirement communities, at the Balloon Festival, Apple Blossom Festival, and everywhere that there is celebration. Dixie Rhythm is a smaller subgroup of the band that plays jazz and plays for community groups at no charge. There is also a brass group that plays periodically at concerts.

Correll says that the band plays a variety of familiar pop music from l940s to the l980s and beyond, and patriotic tunes like God Bless America. They also feature a vocalist, John Hudson, who usually gets in a song or two. Currently, says Correll, they are working on a band arrangement of highlights from the movie “Frozen.”

A free Veterans’ Day concert is coming up at the Barns of Rose Hill on November ll. “We just did a 9/11 concert, which was a memorial,” says Correll, “but the Veteran’s Day concert will be a celebration of the people who served or are serving in our armed forces.”

Correll welcomes any prospective band members to come out for a rehearsal. They are held every Tuesday night at 7:30 in the Johnson Williams Middle School Band Room in Berryville.

He adds that the band is available for performances. See their web site for information: http://www.staggersorthodontics.com/clark_county_community_band.htm