page_title: Joyce's 71st New York Regiment March
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Joyce's 71st New York Regiment March / History
caption_attribution_description: 71st New York State Militia at Washington Navy Yard
context_page_description: Joyce's 71st N.Y. Regiment March is an American march composed by band director, arranger, and composer Thornton Barnes Boyer in 1881. Boyer's "most famous" composition, it is a classic of the American parade and concert band march repertoire, and is regularly performed by U.S. military bands today.
context_section_description: Dedicated to the regimental band of the 71st New York Infantry Regiment, "one of the most well-known military bands of the 19th century," Boyer composed the march while living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and employed by the J. W. Pepper Music Company, which "quickly published" the march after receiving it. The "Joyce" referenced in the march's title is Thomas Joyce, who founded the 71st Regiment's wind band after the unit became part of the New York National Guard in the aftermath of the Civil War. Known as "The American Guard" beginning in 1853, when their Ogden long rifles were replaced with bayonet-carrying muskets, the 71st New York Regiment was founded on October 23, 1850, and took part in the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the occupation of Alexandria, Virginia, and the Battle of Gettysburg. 
  Boyer had a long experience with military music throughout his life, and "after having written music for the 225th anniversary of Philadelphia in 1907, [he]...was music director for the 6th Illinois Regiment band, and then [moved] to Keokuk, IA, where he occupied a similar position with the 50th Iowa Volunteer regiment band." Born on October 20, 1857, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, he passed away in California on April 28, 1936.
caption: The 71st in Washington during the Civil War
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