Civil War Banjo Research

[Old Cremona]

Re: Civil War Banjo Research

If you wanted to play you acquired a tutor(s) and banjo.


CJ Rideout
Tampa, Florida

This is probably a mistaken view--sales of tutors in the ante-bellum period do not seem to reflect widespread use of them. Banjo players then and now have tended more towards "ear" or "simple" methods than formalized music tutors.

Problem is--they're all we've got. There is no other source of period stroke-style banjo music.

I wouldn't despair, though. Taken as a whole (Briggs, Howe, Rice, Buckley and 2 by Converse) there's no reason to disbelieve that they don't reflect the popular playing style in use at the time--as presented by the leading lights of the time. Apply yourself diligently, and you'll discover a "banjo language" that was in use at the time. You won't be a master--I know I'm not by a long shot-- but us "hacks" have there place, especially in a non-professional impression, which is amply supported by the photographic record George referred to.

Confederate banjoists aren't that hard to find. A few: Mike Mitchell was the banjoist in the "Prisoner Minstrels" at Point Lookout, Md. (New York Clipper,, Dec. 19 1863). Franks Converse's Banjo Reminiscences series tells of Mississippian Charles Mattison, who played banjo while a Sgt. in the 9th Miss. Infantry. Samuel Moorman Gregory was Sweeney's Infantry contemporary in the Army of Northern Virginia. "Flannery and Mayhew" played a banjo and bones duet in a Confederate soldiers show of the 3rd Alabama Volunteers in Norfolk, Va. in Sept. 1861, as recalled in the New York Clipper, Nov. 21, 1874.

[Old Cremona]

Re: Civil War Banjo Research

From "Military Ends and Moral Means" by Colonel James J. Graham, 1864 (pg. 127)

"It cannot be questioned that the banjo, the national musical instrument of the Southern Confederacy, is a great addition to the amusements of soldiers on a campaign, and that music has no slight effect in elevating the spirits of the dejected, tatterdemalion, lack-lustre, half-starved scarecrows who are nobly conducting this brilliant struggle for independence."

from "The Rebellion Record, a diary of American events, with Documents," 1861, Vol. 1 (pg. 113)

"A correspondent of the Memphis Argus, writing from Lynchburg, Va., says-- 'We have two regiments from Mississippi with us and one from Tennessee, numbering one thousand each. ...You could not find a more cheerful set of fellows in a weeks travel, they play the fiddle, banjo, dance and sing Dixie.' "

from "Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and their connections, Part 1," (1915) pg 264

"William Edwin, born 1830, within a mile of Cumberland Courthouse, Virginia, went in 1858 to West Tennessee,...in 1861, entered the service of the Confederate States, and remained until the close of the war,...he died in 1870. He was a man of a genial and happy nature and of a sunny disposition. He was an expert banjo player. While playing a piece, we could toss his banjo up in the air, catch it as it descended, and continue the piece without missing a beat or losing a note. He could play with his banjo behind him as well as in front."

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Civil War Banjo Research

There is no question whites played the banjo, however I am not finding a lot of support for minstrel tunes being played as everyday casual or popular tunes as I had orginally thought. Chris Rideout
Tampa, Florida

No question regarding Southern banjo performers. For clarity, I am seeking support of whites playing Negro minstrel tunes as everyday music if you will, far removed from the mockery of the blackface stage. I was worried about the accuracy of the banjo I was using when it seems I probably have had the entire premise incorrect.

Forest > Trees.

Chris Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Civil War Banjo Research

Col. H.C. Hart's 1862 New and Improved Instructor for the Drum includes a few minstrel tunes. Ole Zip Coon, Frog in the Well (Keemo Kimo), Long Tail Blue are a few I can name off the top of my head. If fifers were playing them, then I'm sure non-minstrel banjo players were too.

While the case can be made that Hart didn't sell many copies of his manual, therefore it doesn't matter what was in his book, I agree with what Carl said about the tutors. In the 1860s we don't know how much the music passed from the printed note to the amateur player, but the music did pass from the professional musician to the printed note. Assuming there was an overlap in the repertoire of amateurs and professionals (or in the case of fifers and drummers, inexperienced and experienced performers of military music), there must be some overlap between the music captured in the tutors and what was actually commonly played.

But remember there is much more than just minstrel tunes in some of the banjo tutors. I'm not familiar enough with the banjo tutors to say if Soldier's Joy or Devil's Dream are in any of them, but I bet they were played on the banjo. Often times we focus on "songs," but aren't the old jigs and reels underrepresented?