Bugle Corps, bones, and Banjos is a black cavalry regiment

[Vicksburg Dave]

Found this while doing research on the 3rd US Colored Cavalry

Source: Ed Main. "The Story...of the Third U.S. Colored Cavalry."

p. 156
This history would be incomplete without mention of this organization, which attracted much attention, both in and out of the army.
The chief of this corps, V. H. Behr, was a German musician of more than ordinary ability, and to him is due the credit of organizing, instructing, and bringing to a high state of perfection one of the finest bugle corps of the whole union arm. These buglers were selected from the enlisted men of the regiment, two from each company, twenty-four in all, the chief making twenty-five
The selection of these men were left to the discretion of the chief bugler, Sergeeant Beher, who sifted the regiment until he found the right men--men who had an ear for music, melody in their souls.
They were all young, bright mulattoes, intelligent, and quick to learn. They were put through a course of instruction thata brought forth the best results. Reveille, when sounded by this corps, twenty-five experts, awoke the echoes far and near, eliciting the applause of all listeners.
At suh times when the regiment could have dress parade, mounted or dismounted, this corps, led by their chief, marching by fours, playing selected airs, was a marked feature of the parade. One of their favorite airs being, "John Brown's sould goes marching on." On these occasions the camp of the regiment would be thronged with visitors.
Under the tutelage of their chief, they became proficient musicians, many of them expert performers on various instruments.
Many of them had fine voices, and the bones and banjo concerts they gave, attracted many people to the camp. In this particular they became artists of no mean degree.
Probably never before was so much negro melody concentrated in one organization.

[Danny]

Re: Bugle Corps, Bones, and Banjos in a black cavalry regiment

...Found this while doing research on the 3rd US Colored Cavalry the bones and banjo concerts they gave, attracted many people to the camp. In this particular they became artists of no mean degree.

Dave -

Thanks for that, one of a few actual references (another example is the USS Hunchback banjo player photo) to negro soldiers/sailors playing banjo and bones in their units, though it seems likely anyway that they commonly did.

Brings up questions: Did they sometimes perform the songs and use a technique natural to their plantation /folk /aural tradition, or did they stick with published popular songs using stage Minstrel techniques that had also been published by then? Or both? (i.e. music is jus' music, playin' is just playin' - never mind where it came from).

If we buy the claim of the early stage Minstrels that their material and technique came directly from the plantation to begin with, it's a moot point because those negro soldiers wouldn't have a separate repertoire.

Thoughts?

Dan Wykes

[Vicksburg Dave]

Re: Bugle Corps, bones, and Banjos is a black cavalry regiment

The experiences of the 3rd USCC are very similiar to other black regiments recruited in the Vicksburg/Natchez region in that a number of white Union officers with an appreciation for music discovered a thriving musical tradition among the new recruits. Where the freedmen learned to play music is not metioned, but what is known is that they adapted quickly to formal instruction under white union band directors, with superior results.
If I remember correctly, I believe there's a professor in North Carolina who attributes the origins of jazz to USCT army bands. I find that intriguing, for it makes sense when you consider that the formation of the USCT marked the first wholesale formal instruction of black musicians in brass wind instruments.