William Sweeney

Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Band was organized and directed by William Sweeney.

A cornet player, William Sweeney was the leader of the Cowboy Band from 1883 until 1913. Sweeney began his career with Cody's first Wild West show in 1883 at the "Old Glory Blowout" in North Platte, Nebraska on the Fourth of July until the "Farewell Tour" with Pawnee Bill Lillie in the "Two Bills" show. He did all of the arrangements and wrote a majority of the music performed by the Cowboy Band. Buffalo Bill wrote about how "appropriate the music from Mr. Sweeney's Cowboy Band" was to the show's scenes of American history.

Some fifty years before it became America's official national anthem in 1931, the "Star-Spangled Banner" provided the official musical opening for each Wild West show. Because of this 30-year tradition, it could be argued that Sweeney and the Cowboy Band greatly influenced the general public's acceptance of the "Star Spangled Banner" as our national anthem.

Image: Band leader of Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Band, in uniform with cornet, ca. 1887. Cabinet photograph. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Strobel. P.6.55

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