The work is a simple ABA march written in a style that would have been well known to musicians and audiences alike in 1862. The heroic character, memorable melody and simple harmonic language would have great appeal at that time, as it does, still today. The instrumentation (detailed below) was clearly dictated by Jackson at a time when brass bands lacked uniformity and so this piece was an important catalyst towards a standardized instrumentation. Very many volunteer corps bands, though, would have been wind bands with a mixture of wind and brass instruments so if Jackson had composed this march as a result of a commission, he probably also scored it for wind band. However, no such score has been found.