First Call, Fall In

[newshirt]

In what Army manual(s) are the terms "First Call" and "Fall In" detailed? (E.g. Hardee's, Casey's, Scott's) I know the sequence from experience, but don't know where it is written.

[Pvt_Sullivan]

Re: First Call, Fall In

John Duffer once posted this quotation from Scott's Manual and referenced the electronic copy of Scott's 1835 Manual hosted by Silas Tackitt. I saved it elsewhere for ready reference.

The Drill Network http://home.att.net/~Rebmus/ScottsSotC.htm has SCOTT on line. IMHO one of the biggest holes in our drill knowledge is caused by the lack of a SCOTT'S TACTICS reprint. As you read the manuals in order you see that they're much more like dictionary updates wit a few items added and deleted rather than new efforts.

419. The whole company being assembled on its ground, the sergeants, by the command fall in, will cause the rank and file (corporals and privates) to form in one rank, faced to the right, and in the order of height from right to left, the tallest man on the right, (now head of the rank,) the next tallest man immediately covering the first, and so on to the left or rear of the rank, in which position will be placed the shortest man.

420. This being promptly effected by the sergeants, the first sergeant will command:

Front- FACE.

421. The left guide (second sergeant) will now place himself on the left of the rank, and the first sergeant will promptly command:

1. In three (or two) ranks, form company.
2. By the left flank.
3. Left- FACE.
4. MARCH.

422. At the third command, the whole rank will face to the left, except the guide and the man on the left, who stand fast.

423. At the command march, the whole of the men who have faced to the left, will step off together; the second on third men, counting from the left, will place themselves in the centre and rear ranks respectively, behind the man next to the guide, and face to the front; the three following men will in like manner, on closing up, form the next file, and all the other men will come successively to form files, three deep, to the right of those already established.

424. Two ranks, from one, will be formed in like manner, and on the same principle.

425. The rank and file being formed in files, three (or two) deep, the captain will cause the files to be numbered from right to left, the platoons to be marked, and the officers, sergeants, corporals, (the latter by slight transposings, see No. 37,) pioneer, and filed music to be posted as prescribed, Title I.

[newshirt]

Re: First Call, Fall In

I searched that page, but did not find a reference to the command "First Call."

[lhsnj]

Re: First Call, Fall In

I have not found a "first call", but I did find this reference in Butterfields "Camp and Outpost Duty - 1862"

6. The "General." At this call sergeants and corporals will see that their squads dress, equip, pack up, and prepare for the march.

7. The officers will immediately prepare themselves for the march, and then visit their entire companies, and see that the non-commissioned officers have properly performed their duties.

[Greg Renault]

Re: First Call, Fall In

I suspect that the term "first call" may be a reenactorism, that evolved in this manner: "musicians call" or "assembly of the buglers" is sounded to assemble musicians; after they are assembled the musicians play the actual music that initiates activity. So, for those accustomed to the routine, the musicians call would alert you to what is about to happen (eg, in 15 minutes they will sound "Assembly", so I'd better get my accoutrements on). That is, the musicians call would be a "first" or warning, call, preparatory to the actual order call.

Pure conjecture on my part.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: First Call, Fall In

Drummers' Call = First Call

"The Drummers' call is beaten by the drums of the police guard five minutes before the time of beating the stated calls, when the field music assembles before the colors of their respective regiments, and as soon as the beat begins on the right is taken up along the line."

Manual of instruction for the volunteers and militia of the Confederate States By William Gilham

You should probably be able to find a similar paragraph in Scott's.

Here's first call:

"GUARD MOUNTING.

742. At the first call for guard mounting, the men warned for duty turn out on their company parades for inspection by the first sergeants; and at the second call, repair to the regimental or garrison parade, conducted by the first sergeants."

There is a First Call for Guard Mounting in Howe's 1862 Drum and Fife Instructor, which is nearly identical to Drummers' Call, also found in Howe's and every other fife and drum manual from the period.

Bruce and Emmett's 1862 drum and fife manual notes that First Call is Drummers' Call and 2nd call is Assembly.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: First Call, Fall In

Just found this on google books. Looks like this brigade made a distinction between first call and drummers call. I like how at the bottom you can see how the drummers were slacking off.

Headquarters U. S. Forces, Carrollton, La.,

Camp Parapet, .March 27, 1863. General Orders >

NO. 22. \

The following list of calls" will take effect from March 28, 1863, and will be strictly enforced until further orders :

Drummers' call, 5 A. M.

Reveille, 5.15 A. M.

Breakfast call, 6.30 A. M.

Surgeon's call, 7 A. M.

First call for parade and company inspection, 8 A. M.

Regimental parade, 8.30 A. M.

First call for battalion drill, 9 A. M.

Battalion drill, 9.15 A. M.

Recall from drill, 10.45 A. M

Dinner call, 12 M.

Fatigue call, I p. M.

Recall from fatigue, 3.30 p. M.

First call for guard mounting, 3.45 P. M.

Guard mounting and first call tor company drill, 4 P. M.

Company drill, 4.15 p. M.

Recall from company drill, 5.30 P. M.

Drummers' call, 15 minutes before retreat.

Retreat parade at sundown.

Drummers' call, 8.30 p. M.

Tattoo, 8.45 P. M.

Taps, 9 P. M.

First call for Sunday inspection, 7.15 A. M.

Sunday inspection, 7.30 A. M.

Church call, 11 A. M.

More particular attention must hereafter be given to these duties. In a great many cases there has not been a " drummers' call" preliminary to roll call. The revised Army Regulations clearly define the course to be pursued by both officers and men in relation to these important duties, and commanding officers of regiments and detachments will be held to a strict accountability for any violation of them. All irregularities that heretofore existed must at once cease.

Brigade drills will be substituted for regimental on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

By order of

Brig. Gen. Dow.

[Signed] Oliver Matthews.

Official: Lt. and A. A. A. Geul.

Edw. E. Pinkham,

Adjt

[newshirt]

Re: First Call, Fall In

"GUARD MOUNTING.

742. At the first call for guard mounting, the men warned for duty turn out on their company parades for inspection by the first sergeants; and at the second call, repair to the regimental or garrison parade, conducted by the first sergeants."

But this is not how we typically use it. The quotation above applies to guard mounting, but we use "First Call" for general assembly of the entire company. Notice the text in red, the men warned for duty, implies only those men who will be on guard mount.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: First Call, Fall In

Bruce and Emmett, 1862:

Drummers' Call. This call is beat by the drummer of the guard, at the guard house, to assemble the other drummers on parade, [in this instance it is styled the 1st call]

http://www.fifedrum.org/resources/music/be/09.shtml

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: First Call, Fall In

First call for Reveille at early dawn; Reveille 15 minutes after first call; Fatigue 15 minutes after Reveille; Recall 15 minutes after Fatigue ; Breakfast, 6 A. M.; Surgeon's call, 6 1/2; Guard mounting, 7 1/4; Artillery drill, 9; Recall, 10 1/2; 1st Sergeant's call, 12; Dinner, 12 1/2; Fatigue, 1 P. M.; Recall, 2; Infantry drill, 3; Recall, 4; Dress Parade, three-quarters of an hour before sun down; First call for Tattoo, 9 o'clock; Tattoo 9:15; Taps, 9:30; Sunday morning inspection, 7 A. M.; Church call 11 o'clock

A daily journal of the 192d reg't Penn'a volunteers By John C. Myers

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: First Call, Fall In

Excellent -- wonderful sourcing.

[Greg Renault]

Re: First Call, Fall In

I stand gratefully corrected. The term first call is not a reenactorism, as we see it used in the various period sources. But if we take a look at how it is used, the term first call seems to refer, not to a specific camp call, but is rather to the first in a series of camp calls, which makes it a sort of military colloquial expression.

Eg.:
742. At the first call for guard mounting, the men warned for duty turn out on their company parades for inspection by the first sergeants; and at the second call, repair to the regimental or garrison parade….

This discussion refers to two camp calls to assemble the guard for guard mounting. The first call directs the men in each company assigned to guard duty to fall in; the camp call for this would be The Assembly. The second call collects these groups together to form the regimental guard; the call for this would be Assembly of the Guard.

The same logic should apply to some of the other examples posted:

First call for parade and company inspection, 8 A. M. [The Assembly]
Regimental parade, 8:30 A. M. [To the Color]

First call for battalion drill, 9 A.M. [The Assembly]
Battalion drill, 9:15 A. M. [Drill Call]

And, of course, Drummer's Call would be sounded as the first call of the bunch, which would let you know that a camp call is coming shortly. I think that the sequence of calls is similar to the sequence we see in kinds of orders (caution, preparatory, execution), which also alert you in advance to what you are going to do, so that when the time comes to do it, you are ready.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: First Call, Fall In

It is easy to get these calls mixed up. But looking just at the actual music for the drum calls, Drummers' Call = First Call and the drum and fife music for Assembly is the same as Drill Call.

GUARD MOUNTING, Gilham's

"At the first call for guard mounting....and at the second call"

Howe's (1862) and Keach (1861) have these drum calls:

First Call for Guard Mounting (same beat as Drummers' Call)
Second Call for Guard Mounting

Dress Parade, Gilham's

"A signal will be beat or sounded half an hour before troop or retreat...Ten minutes after that signal, the Adjutant's call will be given..."

Guard Mounting, Bruce and Emmett, 1862

Drummers' Call (First Call) (30 minutes prior)
Assembly (2nd call) (15 minutes prior)
Adjutant's Call

Dress Parade, Bruce and Emmett, 1862

"When there is a dress parade...the several calls will be beaten precisely the same as at guard mounting"

Assembly is the call to form by company (not just one company), and To the Color is the signal to form a battalion, but I have yet to find a reference that states that To the Color should be played at Dress Parade or Guard Mounting.

On the other hand, if the whole army is going to break camp, To the Color is used in the following manner:

"When the whole of the troops in the same camp or garrison are to depart, the general, the assembly, and to the color, will be beaten or sounded, at the proper intervals, in the order here mentioned. At the first, the troops will prepare for the movement; at the second, they will form by company; and at the third, unite by battalion.

U.S. infantry tactics, War Dep't, 1863

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: First Call, Fall In

This is Virginia's spouse posting.

I think the reenactorism comes in when we substitute lung power for drum calls. Since the soldiers of the time understood the different drum calls, there was no need to interpret them. The modern bellowing of "first call" seems a bit corny to me and I don't remember it until about seven to ten years ago. I wish we could learn some drum and bugle calls instead of relying entirely on lungs. However, that takes quite a bit of dedication both on the part of the musicians to learn to perform the calls properly and on the part of the soldiers and officers to know what they are.

Michael Mescher

[Bill]

Re: First Call, Fall In

The Drill Network http://home.att.net/~Rebmus/ScottsSotC.htm has SCOTT on line. IMHO one of the biggest holes in our drill knowledge is caused by the lack of a SCOTT'S TACTICS reprint. As you read the manuals in order you see that they're much more like dictionary updates wit a few items added and deleted rather than new efforts.


Quote:
419. The whole company being assembled on its ground, the sergeants, by the command fall in, will cause the rank and file (corporals and privates) to form in one rank, faced to the right, and in the order of height from right to left, the tallest man on the right, (now head of the rank,) the next tallest man immediately covering the first, and so on to the left or rear of the rank, in which position will be placed the shortest man.

420. This being promptly effected by the sergeants, the first sergeant will command:

Front- FACE.

421. The left guide (second sergeant) will now place himself on the left of the rank, and the first sergeant will promptly command:

1. In three (or two) ranks, form company.
2. By the left flank.
3. Left- FACE.
4. MARCH.

422. At the third command, the whole rank will face to the left, except the guide and the man on the left, who stand fast.

423. At the command march, the whole of the men who have faced to the left, will step off together; the second on third men, counting from the left, will place themselves in the centre and rear ranks respectively, behind the man next to the guide, and face to the front; the three following men will in like manner, on closing up, form the next file, and all the other men will come successively to form files, three deep, to the right of those already established.

424. Two ranks, from one, will be formed in like manner, and on the same principle.

425. The rank and file being formed in files, three (or two) deep, the captain will cause the files to be numbered from right to left, the platoons to be marked, and the officers, sergeants, corporals, (the latter by slight transposings, see No. 37,) pioneer, and filed music to be posted as prescribed, Title I.

Gentleman,

I have a question about this manoeuvre. As I read the instructions, it puts the tallest man in the front rank, second tallest in the rear rank and so on. To solve this problem, we have the men do a right flank. Which puts the tallest man in the rear. (After the company is formed, we have the men do an "about face", which puts the shorter man in every file in the front rank.) What am I missing here?