|
24 Notes That Tap Deep Emotions
Master Sergeant Jari A. Villanueva
www.west-point.org
Of all the military bugle calls, none is so easily recognized or more apt to
render emotion than the call Taps. The melody is both eloquent and haunting
and the history of its origin is interesting and somewhat clouded in
controversy. In the British Army, a similar call known as Last Post has been
sounded over soldiers' graves since 1885, but the use of Taps is unique with
the United States military, since the call is sounded at funerals, wreath-laying
and memorial services.
Taps began as a revision to the signal for Extinguish Lights (Lights Out) at
the end of the day. Up until the Civil War, the infantry call for Extinguish
Lights was the one set down in Silas Casey's (1801-1882) Tactics, which had
been borrowed from the French. The music for Taps was adapted by Union General
Daniel Butterfield for his brigade (Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army
Corps, Army of the Potomac) in July, 1862.
Daniel Adams Butterfield (31 October 1831-17 July 1901) was born in Utica, New
York and graduated from Union College at Schenectady. He was the eastern
superintendent of the American Express Company in New York when the Civil War
broke out. Despite his lack of military experience, he rose quickly in rank. A
Colonel in the 12th Regiment of the New York State Militia, he was promoted to
Brigadier General and given command of a brigade of the V Corps of the Army of
the Potomac. The 12th served in the Shenandoah Valley during the the Bull Run
Campaign. During the Peninsular Campaign Butterfield served prominently when
during the Battle of Gaines Mill, despite an injury, he seized the colors of
the 83rd Pennsylvania and rallied the regiment at a critical time in the battle.
Years later, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for that act of heroism.
As the story goes, General Butterfield was not pleased with the call for
Extinguish Lights feeling that the call was too formal to signal the days end
and with the help of the brigade bugler, Oliver Willcox Norton, wrote Taps to
honor his men while in camp at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, following the
Seven Day's battle. These battles took place during the Peninsular Campaign of
1862. The call, sounded that night in July, 1862, soon spread to other units of
the Union Army and was even used by the Confederates. Taps was made an official
bugle call after the war.
The highly romantic account of how Butterfield composed the call surfaced in
1898 following a magazine article written that summer. The August, 1898 issue
of Century Magazine contained an article called The Trumpet in Camp and Battle,
by Gustav Kobbe, a music historian and critic. He was writing about the origin
of bugle calls in the Civil War and in reference to Taps, wrote:
In speaking of our trumpet calls I purposely omitted one with which it seemed
most appropriate to close this article, for it is the call which closes the
soldier's day. . . . Lights Out. I have not been able to trace this call to any
other service. If it seems probable, it was original with Major Seymour, he has
given our army the most beautiful of all trumpet-calls.
Kobbe was using as an authority the Army drill manual on infantry tactics
prepared by Major General Emory Upton in 1867 (revised in 1874). The bugle
calls in the manual were compiled by Major (later General) Truman Seymour of
the 5th U.S. Artillery. Taps was called Extinguish Lights in these manuals
since it was to replace the Lights Out call disliked by Butterfield. The title
of the call was not changed until later, although other manuals started calling
it Taps because most soldiers knew it by that name. Since Seymour was
responsible for the music in the Army manual, Kobbe assumed that he had written
the call. Kobbe s inability to find the origin of Extinguish Lights (Taps)
prompted a letter from Oliver W. Norton in Chicago who claimed he knew how the
call came about and that he was the first to perform it.
Norton wrote:
Chicago, August 8, 1898
I was much interested in reading the article by Mr. Gustav Kobbe, on the
Trumpet and Bugle Calls, in the August Century. Mr. Kobbe says that he has
been unable to trace the origin of the call now used for Taps, or the Go to
sleep , as it is generally called by the soldiers. As I am unable to give the
origin of this call, I think the following statement may be of interest to Mr.
Kobbe and your readers.. .. During the early part of the Civil War I was bugler
at the Headquarters of Butterfield s Brigade, Morell s Division, Fitz-John
Porter s Corp, Army of the Potomac. Up to July, 1862, the Infantry call for
Taps was that set down in Casey s Tactics, which Mr. Kobbe says was borrowed
from the French. One day, soon after the seven days battles on the Peninsular,
when the Army of the Potomac was lying in camp at Harrison's Landing, General
Daniel Butterfield, then commanding our Brigade, sent for me, and showing me
some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope, asked me
to sound them on my bugle. I did this several times, playing the music as
written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others,
but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his
satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place
of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night, and
was heard far beyond the limits of our Brigade. The next day I was visited by
several buglers from neighboring Brigades, asking for copies of the music which
I gladly furnished. I think no general order was issued from army headquarters
authorizing the substitution of this for the regulation call, but as each
brigade commander exercised his own discretion in such minor matters, the call
was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac. I have been told that
it was carried to the Western Armies by the 11th and 12th Corps, when they went
to Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, and rapidly made it s way through those
armies. I did not presume to question General Butterfield at the time, but from
the manner in which the call was given to me, I have no doubt he composed it in
his tent at Harrison s Landing. I think General Butterfield is living at Cold
Spring, New York. If you think the matter of sufficient interest, and care to
write him on the subject, I have no doubt he will confirm my statement. -Oliver
W. Norton
The editor did write to Butterfield as suggested by Norton. In answer to the
inquiry from the editor of the Century, General Butterfield writing from
Gragside, Cold Spring, under the date of August 31, 1898 wrote:
I recall, in my dim memory, the substantial truth of the statement made by
Norton, of the 83rd Pa., about bugle calls. His letter gives the impression
that I personally wrote the notes for the call. The facts are, that at the time
I could sound calls on the bugle as a necessary part of military knowledge and
instruction for an officer commanding a regiment or brigade. I had acquired
this as a regimental commander. I had composed a call for my brigade, to
precede any calls, indicating that such were calls, or orders, for my brigade
alone. This was of very great use and effect on the march and in battle. It
enabled me to cause my whole command, at times, in march, covering over a mile
on the road, all to halt instantly, and lie down, and all arise and start at
the same moment; to forward in line of battle, simultaneously, in action and
charge etc. It saves fatigue. The men rather liked their call, and began to
sing my name to it. It was three notes and a catch. I can not write a note of
music, but have gotten my wife to write it from my whistling it to her, and
enclose it. The men would sing , Dan, Dan, Dan, Butterfield, Butterfield to
the notes when a call came. Later, in battle, or in some trying circumstances
or an advance of difficulties, they sometimes sang, Damn, Damn, Damn,
Butterfield, Butterfield.
The call of Taps did not seem to be as smooth, melodious and musical as it
should be, and I called in some one who could write music, and practiced a
change in the call of Taps until I had it suit my ear, and then, as Norton
writes, got it to my taste without being able to write music or knowing the
technical name of any note, but, simply by ear, arranged it as Norton
describes. I did not recall him in connection with it, but his story is
substantially correct. Will you do me the favor to send Norton a copy of this
letter by your typewriter? I have none. -Daniel Butterfield
On the surface, this seems to be the true history of the origin of Taps.
Indeed, the many articles written about Taps cite this story as the beginning
of Butterfield's association with the call. Certainly, Butterfield never went
out of his way to claim credit for its composition and it wasn't until the
Century article that the origin came to light.
There are however, significant differences in Butterfield's and Norton's
stories. Norton says that the music given to him by Butterfield that night was
written down on an envelope while Butterfield wrote that he could not read or
write music! Also Butterfield's words seem to suggest that he was not composing
a melody in Norton s presence, but actually arranging or revising an existing
one. As a commander of a brigade, he knew of the bugle calls needed to relay
troop commands. All officers of the time were required to know the calls and
were expected to be able to play the bugle. Butterfield was no different-he
could play the bugle but could not read music. As a colonel of the 12th N.Y.
Regiment, before the war, he had ordered his men to be thoroughly familiar
with calls and drills.
What could account for the variation in stories? My research shows that
Butterfield did not compose Taps but actually revised an earlier bugle call.
This sounds blasphemous to many, but the fact is that Taps existed in an early
version of the call Tattoo. As a signal for end of the day, armies have used
Tattoo to signal troops to prepare them for bedtime roll call. The call was
used to notify the soldiers to cease the evening's drinking and return to their
garrisons. It was sounded an hour before the final call of the day to
extinguish all fires and lights. This early version is found in three manuals
the Winfield Scott (1786 -1866 ) manual of 1835, the Samuel Cooper (1798-1876)
manual of 1836 and the William Gilham (1819?-1872) manual of 1861. This call
referred to as the Scott Tattoo was in use from 1835-1860. A second version of
Tattoo came into use just before the Civil War and was in use throughout the
war replacing the Scott Tattoo.
The fact that Norton says that Butterfield composed Taps cannot be questioned.
He was relaying the facts as he remembered them. His conclusion that Butterfield
wrote Taps can be explained by the presence of the second Tattoo. It was most
likely that the second Tattoo, followed by Extinguish Lights (the first eight
measures of today's Tattoo), was sounded by Norton during the course of the war.
It seems possible that these two calls were sounded to end the soldier's day on
both sides during the war. It must therefore be evident that Norton did not
know the early Tattoo or he would have immediately recognized it that evening
in Butterfield's tent. If you review the events of that evening, Norton came
into Butterfield's tent and played notes that were already written down on an
envelope. Then Butterfield changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and
shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. If you
compare that statement while looking at the present day Taps, you will see that
this is exactly what happened to turn the early (Scott) Tattoo in Taps.
Butterfield as stated above, was a Colonel before the War and in General Order
No. 1 issued by him on December 7, 1859 had the order: The Officers and
non-commissioned Officers are expected to be thoroughly familiar with the first
thirty pages, Vol. 1, Scott's Tactics, and ready to answer any questions in
regard to the same previous to the drill above ordered Scott's Tactics include
the bugle calls that Butterfield must have known and used.
If Butterfield was using Scott's Tactics for drills, then it is feasible that
he would have used the calls as set in the manual. Lastly, it is hard to
believe that Butterfield could have composed anything that July in the aftermath
of the Seven Days battles which saw the Union Army of the Potomac mangled by
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Over twenty six thousand casualties were
suffered on both sides. Butterfield had lost over 600 of his men on June 27th
at the battle of Gaines Mill and had himself been wounded. In the midst of the
heat, humidity, mud, mosquitoes, dysentery, typhoid and general wretchedness
of camp life in that early July, it is hard to imagine being able to write
anything.
In the interest of historical accuracy, it should be noted that it is not
General Butterfield who composed Taps, rather that he revised an earlier call
into the present day bugle call we know as Taps. This is not meant to take
credit away from him. It is only to put things in a correct historic manner.
Following the Peninsular Campaign, Butterfield served at 2nd Bull Run, Antietam
and at Marye's Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg. Through political
connections and his ability for administration, he became a Major General and
served as chief of staff of the Union Army of the Potomac under Generals Joseph
Hooker and George Meade. He was wounded at Gettysburg and then reassigned to
the Western Theater. By war's end, he was breveted a brigadier general and
stayed in the army after the Civil War, serving as superintendent of the army's
recruiting service in New York City and colonel of the 5th Infantry. In 1870,
after resigning from the military, Butterfield went back to work with the
American Express Company. He was in charge of a number of special public
ceremonies, including General William Tecumseh Sherman's funeral in 1891.
Besides his association with Taps, Butterfield also designed the system of
Corps Badges which were distinctive shapes of color cloth sewn on to uniforms
to distinguish units.
Butterfield died in 1901. His tomb is the most ornate in the cemetery at West
Point despite the fact that he never attended. There is also a monument to
Butterfield in New York City near Grant's Tomb. There is nothing on either
monument that mentions Taps or Butterfield's association with the call. Taps
was sounded at his funeral.
How did it become associated with funerals? The earliest official reference to
the mandatory use of Taps at military funeral ceremonies is found in the U.S.
Army Infantry Drill Regulations for 1891, although it had doubtless been used
unofficially long before that time, under its former designation Extinguish
Lights.
The first use of Taps at a funeral during the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia.
Captain John C. Tidball of Battery A, 2nd Artillery ordered it played for the
burial of a cannoneer killed in action. Since the enemy was close, he worried
that the traditional 3 volleys would renew fighting.
During the Peninsular Campaign in 1862, a soldier of Tidball's Battery - A of
the 2nd Artillery - was buried at a time when the battery occupied an advanced
position, concealed in the woods. It was unsafe to fire the customary three
volleys over the grave on account of the proximity of the enemy, and it
occurred to Captain Tidball that the sounding of Taps would be the most
ceremony that would be substituted. The custom, thus originated, was taken up
throughout the Army of the Potomac, and finally confirmed by orders. Colonel
James A. Moss Officer's Manual Pub. George Banta Publishing Co. Menasha
Wisconsin 1913 Elbridge Coby in Army Talk (Princeton, 1942), p.208 states that
it was B Battery of the Third Artillery that first used Taps at a military
funeral.
This first sounding of Taps at a military funeral is commemorated in a stained
glass window at The Chapel of the Centurion (The Old Post Chapel) at Fort
Monroe, Virginia. The window, made by R. Geissler of New York and based on a
painting by Sidney King, was dedicated in 1958 and shows a bugler and a flag at
half staff. In that picture a drummer boy stands beside the bugler. The
grandson of that drummer boy purchased Berkeley Plantation where Harrisons
Landing is located. The site where Taps was born is also commemorated. In this
case, by a monument located on the grounds of Berkeley Plantation. This
monument to Taps was erected by the Virginia American Legion and dedicated on
July 4, 1969. The site is also rich in history, for the Harrisons of Berkeley
Plantation included Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison, both
presidents of the United States as well as Benjamin Harrison (father and Great
grandfather of future presidents), a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
It must be pointed out that other stories of the origin of Taps exist. A
popular one is that of a Northern boy who was killed fighting for the south.
His father, Robert Ellicombe a Captain in the Union Army, came upon his son's
body on the battlefield and found the notes to Taps in a pocket of the dead
boy's Confederate uniform. When Union General Daniel Sickles heard the story,
he had the notes sounded at the boy's funeral. There is no evidence to back up
the story or the existence of Captain Ellicombe. As with many other customs,
this solemn tradition continues today. Although Butterfield merely revised an
earlier bugle call, his role in producing those 24 notes gives him a place in
the history of music as well as the history of war.
As soon as Taps was sounded that night in July 1862, words were put with the
music. The first were, "Go To Sleep, Go to Sleep." As the years went on many
more versions were created. There are no official words to the music but here
are some of the more popular verses:
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
Go to sleep, peaceful sleep,
May the soldier or sailor,
God keep.
On the land or the deep,
Safe in sleep.
Love, good night, Must thou go,
When the day, And the night
Need thee so?
All is well. Speedeth all
To their rest.
Fades the light; And afar
Goeth day, And the stars
Shineth bright,
Fare thee well; Day has gone,
Night is on.
Thanks and praise, For our days,
'Neath the sun, Neath the stars,
'Neath the sky,
As we go, This we know,
God is nigh.
|
