Calling All Musicians

Musicians, what did they do? What did they play? How prominent were they and how can they be re-enacted?

Good questions, and in this short article I cannot hope to answer fully any of them in full. I will to hopefully answer but a few and bring into focus this aspect of civil war life in a manner that will prove a benefit to the ACWS, certainly a benefit to living history and maybe a covert asset to the ACWS.

To start with they were certainly an important part of the army, so much so they had their own uniforms and even had their own sword. This was a shortened version of an NCOs sword measuring only twenty eight inches long. (A useful fact for NCOs of shorter stature who were often known to acquire these to prevent the full length version dragging on the ground.) They were certainly well photographed and do attract a mention in the army rule book stating they had an exemption from guard duty. Several stories of musicians exist, my favourite being the musician who as a punishment detail was instructed to sit outside his COs billet from dawn till sundown and play. The musician was returned to his unit prior to lunch however as the CO received complaints about this as the musician to the letter sat outside the billet but played the same mournful tune again and again.

At the beginning of the conflict musicians wore distinctive uniforms with the herringbone pattern in appropriate branch colour. Towards the middle to end of the war this had to a large extent been abandoned in favour of standard infantry uniform and the sword had gone. It was almost certainly for ceremonial use only.

Most of the groups, bands, companies or whatever title they attached to themselves did comprise of wind instruments, mainly of the brass variety, but there are some examples of strings and it is fair to assume that skilled and semi skilled musicians were far more common than they are today given the lack of pre-made entertainment in the period.

The purpose of these bands was multi functional. Buglers were used for signalling and from the photographs available it is safe to say that horns and trumpets and other assorted high end brass were also used in this capacity. During a march bands would also play and again the predominate instruments are brass and fifes due to physical constraints of playing and walking.

Last, but by no means least, entertainment. This is the least documented and presented part of civil war music and it is on this I wish to expand as Drum Major John Fairfield has the first two well in hand. I must at this time express my thanks for the advice and resource given to me by John and hope I can do half as good a job in the entertainment field as he has done in his and anyone who has seen the countless drums he has constructed, young drummers e has taught or buglers, some of whom have taken their skill into the regular British army, will bear witness.

As for the entertainment idea! Simply put, Why not combine all the musicians currently floating piecemeal about both camps into an orchestra of sorts. The aim would be to have sixty to ninety minutes set into the schedule for the musicians to perform and practice. This would have to be carefully implemented so as not to coincide with the Drum Majors practice and would require the co-operation of commanding offices to ensure their musicians were not on other duties at these times.

The uses for such an orchestra would be obvious, certainly in terms of camp entertainment and enhancing living history but let us consider further uses. Company dances (Simple waltzes), Religious re-enactments and weddings (Hymns) and promotion. No I can see a few raised eyebrows at the word Promotion so I shall explain. If this orchestra was marketed as ...

Victorian Orchestra of the American Civil War.

... We may be able to gain access to other Victorian era events that have so far excluded us. Obviously the orchestra would have to set up at said events so a small living history would also have to be present. A connection to Britain display at such events would also be massively useful. Mr Philip Clark has provisionally agreed to lend us canvas for such an endeavour and this explains the word covert in the first paragraph.

On paper all of this would seem idealistically simple and straightforward but this is certainly not the case for several reasons.

Firstly not all musicians can read music and whilst Liz, Miles and myself are fortunate to be able to do so not all are. This is a fact I appreciate well so I carried out a small experiment at Witton Castle which proved that this was not as big a hurdle as first suspected. Any strumming guitarist who can count bar lines and play chords in the major keys of A, D or G would be quite easily able to play along and be a considerable asset. The fifer who joined us on this occasion proved that they can quite easily pick up most simple tunes, if they don’t already know them, by ear. This would leave those able to read music to play the harmonies or counter melodies. A Massive thanks to Alan "Ozzy" Ozbourne and friends who facilitated the Witton castle experiment.

A second experiment was carried out at Sheffield in the main entertainment tent between the sets of the Cajun band and this also proved to be a simple semi success.

This was simply a twenty minute set comprising of popular ACWS songs and tunes done back to back with just the first, and most well known, verse of each song done before moving onto the next. It was nice to see how many people actually knew the words to them and thanks to the impromptu appearance of Mr Lord on drums.

The proposal would be simple. To have a simple and short set repertoire of music sent to all interested. It would be sent in sheet music form to those who could read and on a cassette to those who couldn’t. Guitar chord sequences would also sent to guitarists. I am fortunate enough to own equipment able to facilitate this. I am realistic enough to realise that this my, and probably will take at least a few seasons to get into motion and come to fruition so at this time I am simply conducting a head count to see if it is possible.

What to play is the next obvious question. I have in my possession the Civil War Songbook and Complete Fife and Drum, both of which have multi part harmonies for the orchestral sound.

After a little research I was astounded to find that music printing and composition during the war was prolific and both of the books mentioned have more than enough "period home-grown" ACW material as well as traditional tunes to carry this idea for a good few seasons at least.

Just out of interest George Frederick Roots "Battle Cry of Freedom" is the only popular song of patriotism written in the period for the period. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a pinched hymn tune, the "Bonnie Blue Flag" is borrowed from "The Irish Jaunting Carr" and "Maryland, My Maryland" is the German traditional tune "O Tannenbaum." Many of the other tunes are Napoleonic soldier tunes carried on the soldier tradition and foreign units, Sailors Jigs or bastardised Hymn tunes or classical pieces mainly of French, British or German origin which will have to write a separate article on.

I do intend to add other influences at a later date but would like to avoid Irish music. The reason behind this is simply that the Sixty Ninth do a fantastic and far better job of the genre than I could and I would like to concentrate on the more traditional tunes and double cater on areas already covered by the experts in that field.

I would appreciate any feedback both positive and negative as it will all prove valuable. I can be found in the Nineteenth Indiana or on phone number 01302 874250.

Many thanks to Tim Davies and the Nineteenth for their support and resource and Alan "Ozzy" Ozbourne for Mexicana!

And finally a confession. It may appear tat this idea was mine but in fact it was the idea of Mr Pete Smith who proscribes himself as an amateur instrument make and tinkerer and yet produces excellent and very playable instruments such as lap psaltry and cigar box violins both of which I have played and can confirm.

I will end this article now and hope to hear from like minded souls sometime on the near future. All will be welcome and if people would like to use it as music learning experience feel free to do so. Even if you are non musical but feel you can contribute please do so and I welcome all contacts. I can normally be contacted after eight in the evening at home and look forward to hearing from you.

Christian Sprakes, Regimental Musician 19th Indiana.

The above article first appeared in the ACWS Newsletter, Winter 2006