Dennison Wheelock
American musician
Died when: 55 years 269 days (668 months)Star Sign: Gemini
Dennison Wheelock (June 14, 1871 – March 10, 1927) was an Oneida band conductor, composer, and cornet soloist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Wheelock was compared to prominent bandleader John Philip Sousa, and nominated to be bandmaster of the United States Marine Band.
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.
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