Thomas P. Coates was a 19th-century American musician who achieved initial prominence in Pennsylvania for his performances on the cornet and French horn. The director of Pomp's Cornet Band in Easton, Pennsylvania, he was commissioned as the first conductor of the regimental band of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the early months of the American Civil War. Post-war, he became a prolific and popular composer of band music, and was subsequently nicknamed "the Father of Band Music in America."
- Occupation
- conductor, musician, composer
- Born
- 1803
- Died
- October 11, 1895
