The group of sixteen Italian musicians didn’t know what to think.  Their leader, Gaetano Carusi, had brought them to America, the land of promise.  But when they arrived in Washington their first thought must have been to go back home.

The year was 1805 and Carusi himself described the capital city of the new republic as “a desert. A place containing two or three taverns and a few scattered cottages and log cabins.”  The Italians were supposed to form a band to represent the United States Marines and President Thomas Jefferson.  Apparently the band came with few perks.  Upon their arrival the Italians were trooped off to their residence--an area in the Marine barracks where the musicians and their families--30 in all--had to bundle together in a single room and sleep on a bare floor.