Tunes played by 148th PA drum corps

[33rdaladrummer]

From The Story of Our Regiment: A History of the 148th Pennsylvania Vols., Written by the Comrades By Joseph Wendel Muffly Published by Kenyon Print., 1904:

DRUM CORPS.

PART III. By Nathaniel Beerly, Company B.

General Hancock...ordered every band and drum corps to play "Rally Round the Flag"...Our repertoire was somewhat limited and not very artistic. It commenced with the "reveille" and ended with "retreat" and "tattoo," and consisted principally of marches and quick-steps — "The Girl I Left Behind Me," "Larry O'Gaff," by Woodly; "Old Dan Tucker," by "Danny" Shreffler; "The Rogue's March," and, last but not least, "Hell on Oil Creek." by Abraham Corson, the left handed joker or fifer of Company K...Our field music was re-organized and spent much time in practice. They became very proficient and, being dissatisfied with the regular army drums, we had a full outfit of smaller metal drums secured for them by private subscription and the result was a pride in the music and a variety in it such, as T never heai-d in a drum corps before or since. The different parts were played by the fifes and many of the pieces, such as "Gentle Annie," "Faded Flowers," etc., were rendered most artistically. Indeed the concerts at retreat and tattoo were often attended by the men of other regiments for a considerable distance around us...During our stay at this camp we took a new impetus in music which gave us the reputation for proficiency second to no martial music in tihe Army. Colonel Beaver secured for us enough new
drums and fifes to replace some .that had become unserviceable, and we adopted regular hours for practice and soon began to show an unmistakable improvement We were indebted greatly to a
private from an adjoining regiment (whose name I am sorry to say I have forgotten) who was an expert drummer in fancy beats, and in which he very kindly instructed our drummers, so that in a short time we had quite a repertoire of fancy tunes such as "Faded Flowers," "Gentle Annie," "Wrecker's Daughter," "Village Quickstep," and others, with which we were accustomed to entertain our boys after tattoo, and which attracted to our camp visitors from surrounding camps by the score. Colonel Beaver always took great pride in his drum corps and if, like the rank and file of his Regiment, they did not measure up to the standard, it was no fault of his, for he kept a critical eye upon us, and was as ready to commend discipline and proficiency as to rebuke for the want of them. Our camp duties were imperative, and strictly under the supervision of the Adjutant and controlled directly by the Principal Musician, who was held responsible for their accuracy. They consisted of reveille at daybreak, first by the drummer's call by the bugler, followed after the musicians all assembled on the color line in front of the Colonel's headquarters, by the reveille call by the bugler, and immediately by the entire drum corps. This call consists of variations of about ten or twelve selections including all the different kinds of time used in the service, and requiring about ten minutes for the rendering and during which time the companies assembled in line in their company streets...
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I have trying to organize some of references to tunes being played by fifers and drummers that I (with the help of others including Mark Jaeger) have gathered. So far I have come up with the tunes above plus these:

Annie Laurie
Auld Lang Syne
Beaux of Oak Hill
Bold Soldier Boy
Bonnie Blue Flag
Devil's Dream
Dixie
Flowers of Edinburgh
Garryowen
Girl I Left Behind Me
Hail Columbia
Hail to the Chief
Home Sweet Home
Jaybird
Jefferson and Liberty
Jon Anderson My Joe
Lannigan's Ball
Larry O'Gaff
Marseillaise
Nancy Dawson
Oh Susanna
Old Dan Tuckerish (Delevan Miller)
Picayune Butler's come to Town (Old Dan Tucker?)
Rocky Road to Dublin
Rory O'Moore
Sprig of Shillelah
St. Patrick's Day in the Morning
The Campbells are Coming
Village Quickstep (called Bartlett's Quickstep in Howe's manual)
Villikins and his Dinah
White Cockade
Who'll Be King but Charlie
Yankee Doodle

I plan on compiling the actual quotes and sources when I get them all organized and maybe after some others contribute anything they have found.

[joewhitney]

Re: Tunes played by 148th PA drum corps

Great book, especially the four part "Story of the Drum Corps". Here's another good quote:

"While yet in our innocency as soldiers, we used to think that the drum corps would take a very conspicuous part in time of battle — in fact, would be up to the front, and with its inspiring music would infuse martial ardor and courage into the souls of the charging men. This, however, was a wrong impression. The drums were left at a safe distance in the rear when the fight was on, but the musicians were not solely for ornament and entertainment; they assisted at the hospitals and helped the wounded off the field and thus often exposed themselves on the firing line."

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md Line Field Music

[RJSamp]

From The Story of Our Regiment: A History of the 148th Pennsylvania Vols., Written by the Comrades By Joseph Wendel Muffly Published by Kenyon Print., 1904:

DRUM CORPS.

PART III. By Nathaniel Beerly, Company B.

General Hancock...ordered every band and drum corps to play "Rally Round the Flag"...Our repertoire was somewhat limited and not very artistic. It commenced with the "reveille" and ended with "retreat" and "tattoo," and consisted principally of marches and quick-steps — "The Girl I Left Behind Me," "Larry O'Gaff," by Woodly; "Old Dan Tucker," by "Danny" Shreffler; "The Rogue's March," and, last but not least, "Hell on Oil Creek." by Abraham Corson, the left handed joker or fifer of Company K...Our field music was re-organized and spent much time in practice. They became very proficient and, being dissatisfied with the regular army drums, we had a full outfit of smaller metal drums secured for them by private subscription and the result was a pride in the music and a variety in it such, as T never heai-d in a drum corps before or since. The different parts were played by the fifes and many of the pieces, such as "Gentle Annie," "Faded Flowers," etc., were rendered most artistically. Indeed the concerts at retreat and tattoo were often attended by the men of other regiments for a considerable distance around us...During our stay at this camp we took a new impetus in music which gave us the reputation for proficiency second to no martial music in tihe Army. Colonel Beaver secured for us enough new
drums and fifes to replace some .that had become unserviceable, and we adopted regular hours for practice and soon began to show an unmistakable improvement We were indebted greatly to a
private from an adjoining regiment (whose name I am sorry to say I have forgotten) who was an expert drummer in fancy beats, and in which he very kindly instructed our drummers, so that in a short time we had quite a repertoire of fancy tunes such as "Faded Flowers," "Gentle Annie," "Wrecker's Daughter," "Village Quickstep," and others, with which we were accustomed to entertain our boys after tattoo, and which attracted to our camp visitors from surrounding camps by the score. Colonel Beaver always took great pride in his drum corps and if, like the rank and file of his Regiment, they did not measure up to the standard, it was no fault of his, for he kept a critical eye upon us, and was as ready to commend discipline and proficiency as to rebuke for the want of them. Our camp duties were imperative, and strictly under the supervision of the Adjutant and controlled directly by the Principal Musician, who was held responsible for their accuracy. They consisted of reveille at daybreak, first by the drummer's call by the bugler, followed after the musicians all assembled on the color line in front of the Colonel's headquarters, by the reveille call by the bugler, and immediately by the entire drum corps. This call consists of variations of about ten or twelve selections including all the different kinds of time used in the service, and requiring about ten minutes for the rendering and during which time the companies assembled in line in their company streets...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have trying to organize some of references to tunes being played by fifers and drummers that I (with the help of others including Mark Jaeger) have gathered. So far I have come up with the tunes above plus these:

Annie Laurie
Auld Lang Syne
Beaux of Oak Hill
Bold Soldier Boy
Bonnie Blue Flag
Devil's Dream
Dixie
Flowers of Edinburgh
Garryowen
Girl I Left Behind Me
Hail Columbia
Hail to the Chief
Home Sweet Home
Jaybird
Jefferson and Liberty
Jon Anderson My Joe
Lannigan's Ball
Larry O'Gaff
Marseillaise
Nancy Dawson
Oh Susanna
Old Dan Tuckerish (Delevan Miller)
Picayune Butler's come to Town (Old Dan Tucker?)
Rocky Road to Dublin
Rory O'Moore
Sprig of Shillelah

St. Patrick's Day in the Morning
The Campbells are Coming
Village Quickstep (called Bartlett's Quickstep in Howe's manual)
Villikins and his Dinah
White Cockade
Who'll Be King but Charlie
Yankee Doodle

I plan on compiling the actual quotes and sources when I get them all organized and maybe after some others contribute anything they have found.

That is a quote on the use of Assembly of the Buglers as the First Call of the day.......

And here's a Google Book Online version of the book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=BGMUAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA788&lpg=RA1-PA788&dq=From+The+Story+of+Our+Regiment:+A+History+of+th e+148th+Pennsylvania+Vols&source=web&ots=lPn-N8ugsC&sig=IyfFQORxfCGOLrI03RxYKORFjDM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result

[Alan Lloyd]

Re: Tunes played by 148th PA drum corps

Will

You have Jaybird in your list of tunes found in period references. Can you post the reference to that one?

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Tunes played by 148th PA drum corps

Alan,

I finally got all those tune references organized, then my computer went and died. Luckily since I found most of that stuff on google books, I was able to quickly pull this up. I swear that I find something new there everytime I look. You'd be amazed at what you can find by searching for "drum corps", fifer, drummer, tattoo, reveile, etc.

I suppose we don't really know if this is the same tune as the "Jaybird" from the American Veteran Fifer that we know. And I wonder if "Jay bird died with the whooping cough" (the second reference below) is a different tune.

We had a "fighting band." Our musicians un- slung their drums when the last mile was growing longer than a league, and carried us into camp with Jaybird, Jaybird, shouting fresh. In the morning it played us out of camp with Garry Owen.

We had a brass band when we went to war. But when the regiment got to the front it traded the brass band for a fife and drum corps. Because the regiment is a fighting machine. Doesn't the band go into battle? Sure. Not to nerve our fighting courage with spirit-stirring strains of stormy music. The musicians tied simple bandages of white or red around the left arm, and reported to the surgeon for duty. They sought out the wounded and carried them back to the field hospital...


The Drums of the Forty-Seventh

http://books.google.com/books?id=6jdIAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jaybird+drum&lr=&as_brr=1&as_pt=ALLTYPES

This one may be "semi-historical", as the author put it, but it is from 1873:

The drum and fife (no company was allowed to be mustered in without its drum and fife Major) was music most divine, bringing out the most thrilling
patriotic demonstrations. The drum and the fife, to the tune of "Yankee Doodle" and the "Jay bird died with the whooping cough"


Old Times in West Tennessee - Page 131

http://books.google.com/books?id=0nkIITFonZYC&pg=PA131&dq=jaybird+drum&lr=&as_brr=1&as_pt=ALLTYPES

You will find more references if you search for keywords jaybird drum at books.google.com.

[markj]

Will,

This item doesn't mention specific calls or tunes. However, you may find it interesting nonetheless since it may be the only case of a "mixed" Federal field music unit in existence until the 1940's.

Richmond VA Daily Examiner, Thursday, 3 November 1864, col. D:

The Libby Band.—A fife and drum corps, composed of three Yankee fifers and two negro drummers, selected from among the prisoners, has been organized at the Libby prison by Richard R. Turner, Prison Inspector. Their duty is to make the circuit around the building at the hour of the several roll calls—morning and afternoon—and sound the signal for the prisoners above to fell in line preparatory to roll call. The musicians perform their part with great dexterity, and their musical clatter, which is very inspiring and martial, completes the tout en semble of the Libby.

*********

Ever heard of this group before? I have also attached a brief NYT item on Richard R. Turner (1838-1901). I was surprised to learn that Turner was apparently only in his mid-20's when he ran Libby Prison--not the "graybeard" I had expected. He lived to a fairly ripe old age and seems to have prospered to a considerable extent after the war.

Mark Jaeger

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Tunes played by 148th PA drum corps

Mark,

I remember finding an account of some drummers requesting that a "colored" boy be removed from their corps. They said it was not because of the color of his skin or his musical ability, but something about him getting into trouble all the time. I'll have to see if I can dig that one up. I don't remember if it was a yankee unit or not. It was probably Confederate as there were plenty of black drummers and fifers that served in the Confederate army.