Original drum manual, property of 8th Minnesota musician

[33rdaladrummer]

Is this the jaguar skin trousers of field music gear?

Josiah F. Clark, A War Music Story
By Holly Broden, Contributing Writer

In 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Eighth Regiment of Minnesota Volunteers. His duty, as listed on
the roster of field and staff officers, was “principal musician, age 39, mustered in Oct. 14, ’63 and mustered out July 11, ’65.”

When Clark’s Civil War duty ended in 1866, he
returned to Anoka and with him came his musician’s book
Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide: Self Instruction by George B.
Bruce and Dan D. Emmett. It was donated years later to the
Anoka County Historical Society, notations and original
music by Clark remain tucked in its pages.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Original drum manual, property of 8th Minnesota musician

Here's another rarity:

Thirteenth regiment of New Hampshire volunteer infantry in the war of the ... By S. Millett Thompson

"During the fight in the morning, a rebel drum-corps, mere boys, came into our lines as prisoners. The plucky little fellows threw down their drums and stamped the heads in, and threw their fifes as far as they could into the grass of the field...The writer went out and secured one fife, a German silver affair, which had been thrown away by one of the boys; and still, 1887, preserves it as a souvenir of the battle. It belonged to the 44th Tennessee."

The same fife can be found in Echoes of Glory.

So there you have one copy of B&E used by Minnesota musician and one German silver fife used by a Tennessee musician.

[Bagman]

Re: Original drum manual, property of 8th Minnesota musician

Will......

The Copy of B&E is as ratty as the ones we use. In fact, they look like genuine arty-facts judging from the original in the photo.

...I wonder if the original owner tore out all the tunes judged too challenging. If so, he wouldn't have been the first.....or the last.

Jeff Christman
LIberty Hall Fifes & Drums

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Original drum manual, property of 8th Minnesota musician

Yeah, the ratty repros might pass for originals except that someone changed the publication date to 1861. The first edition was actually published in 1862.

I don't doubt that a few fifers could play the difficult pieces in B&E, but my theory is that Emmett just simply inserted fiddle music for many of the fife tunes.

As for the drumming, I have no idea why Bruce decided to make the reveille more difficult. The Keep It Simple Stupid method had been working in the army for decades, and the other drum manuals of the 1860s simply copied the beats from Ashworth's system of 1812.