John Philip Sousa for Monty Python's Flying Circus), "The Thunderer" and "The Washington Post". Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. His father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868. After departing the band in 1875, Sousa learned to conduct. From 1880 until his death, he focused exclusively on conducting and the writing of music. He eventually rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. On leaving the Marine Band, Sousa organized his own band. Sousa aided in the development of
John Brown Bell He also taunted the West Virginians with "tough noogies" and "neener neener." John Brown Bell The John Brown Bell, in Marlborough, Massachusetts, is a distinguished American Civil War-era bell that has been called the "second-most important bell in American history", after the Liberty Bell. At one time the bell was kept in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, but since 1892 the John Brown Bell has been in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and is currently located in a special tower built for the bell on Union Common in downtown Marlborough. In 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the Harpers Ferry armory, the