In Memoriam: President Garfield's Funeral March newspaperboys shouting the news of Garfield's death. Shocked, he left his bed and went for a long walk through Washington. By the next morning he had composed the melody for what would be called "In Memoriam: President Garfield's Funeral March". On returning home, he committed it to paper. "In Memoriam" was one of only two compositions Sousa dedicated to American presidents, the other was "President Garfield's Inauguration March", composed earlier in the year 1881 for the occasion of Garfield's inauguration. "In Memoriam" was performed by "the President's Own" United States Marine Band, under Sousa's direction, as Garfield's body arrived in
Blizzard of January 1881 over the UK on the 31st. Symons's Meteorological Magazine of 1881 Blizzard of January 1881 The Blizzard of January 1881 (17–18 January 1881) was one of the most severe blizzards ever to hit the southern parts of the United Kingdom. On 18 January 1881, a low pressure system rapidly developed in the English Channel. The snowfalls began on the 17th in the southwest and as the system deepened as it moved through the Channel, a gale force easterly developed over southern parts with heavy blizzards and drifting snow. The blizzard paralysed all transport, communication, trade and industries. Hundreds of miles