14. Program from Inauguration Ceremonies of the Hon. Michael Hahn as Governor of Louisiana, New Orleans, March 4, 1864. Musical part of the exercise conducted by Gilmore. All military bands and available musicians in the city united as one band, Grand Chorus of over 6,000 voices from public schools, 50 pieces of General Arnold's Artillery, 2 Regiments Infantry, and all bells of the city to take part in the festival.
In August 1862, an Act of Congress discharged regimental bands from the Union Army. Gilmore, whose band had been serving with the 24th Massachusetts Regiment, returned to Boston to organize bands in Massachusetts. In 1864, Gilmore and two of his ensembles traveled to New Orleans for the inauguration of Michael Hahn as governor of the newly readmitted state of Louisiana. Gilmore assembled 500 instrumentalists, a chorus of 6,000, an anvil chorus of 40, and a battery of 50 cannons. This was the first of the mammonth concerts for which Gilmore would soon become famous.
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