After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, many funeral marches and dirges in memory of the departed leader poured out. C. Everest even set to music Lincoln’s favorite poem, Oh Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud, written by an unknown author.

Another great American historical event was the discovery of oil in the fields of western Pennsylvania. Oil prospectors were riding high and so were the writers of songs about oil. They wrote humorous ballads like Oil on the Brain, as well as dance numbers such as the American Petroleum Polka.

The heyday of the American bicycle, known then as a velocipede, began in 1869. During that year dozens of songs, schottishes, and polkas were dedicated to intrepid cyclists, such as The Flying Velocipede and Velocipediana.

The most widely publicized massacre by American Indians took place in 1876 on the banks of the Little Big Horn River in Montana, where a band of nearly 300 soldiers, under the command of General George Custer, were ambushed by several thousand Sioux warriors who wiped out every man. The event inspired music such as General Custer’s Last March.