Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-16

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each consisting Of as many as one
performers. who did undoubtedly
animate the men with their stirring
strains, and who, still playing in their
units, ventured as near to the
fighting line as possible.
In the Crimea the British, French and
armies were accompanied by
their bands, but, in the case of our own
troops. at least, the bandsmen, on arrlv-
ing at the front, appear to ave discard'
their instruments and taken theif
place in the ranks as active combatants.
1t is that at the close of the cam.
paign the government determined upon
the entire reconstruction of the band sys"
tenn of our army, a circumstance prob
ably prompted by the split UP Of the
bands which the war had occasioned.
The Schleswig-H olstein campaign OF
1854 was marked by an incident recalling
the French bands at the commencement
of the century. At the stOrming OF the
Duppel redoubts by the Prussians the
storming parties were played to their re-
spective redoubts, right through the zone
OF fire. by the stirring music OF the
''Preusenlied." Again, on seeing that
victory was his. the RED Prince" ordered
up the massed bands to play a TIE Deum.
I'm the broad ditch to the rear OF Fort
No. l." wrote DR.. Russell, 1.-THE n OF
four regiments had established tnem-
selves, and while the n were thun-
dering close behind them they played q
chorale for the days success. The effect
was striking, and the grouping OF the
troops and Of the musicians, with their
smart uniforms and bright Instruments.
standing in the deep trench against the
shell battered earthwork, and by pals
AIDES riven and shattered and shivered by
shot, was most picturesque" Neverthe-
less, the experiment was not repeated by
the victor in either the Austrian or
French campaign.
To- ~ fo tvaa0 {hntr FHH1v n M 060
companied every Prussian and Saxon reg
iment while on the march, but once the
fighting had begun the musicians were
converted into ambulance men pro tenn.
or attached themselves to the bearer
companies. Accordingly we have to wait
for the Russo Turkish war Of 1877 before
finding military bands again bringing
their influence to a as an TO
discipline and heroism. Skobelen was
the general who utilized them with this
object, and the occasion arose out OF one
Of those bloody fights around Plevna,
| when the flower Of the Russian infantry
had been driven from their parallels with
| terrible slaughter To retrieve the for
| tunes o. the day appeared hopeless, Tor
the men We're thoroughly coWed n hung
back when rallied by their officers. AT
this crisis the celebrated general remem-
bered the bands of the Imperial Guard
i standing idle in the rear and these were
! hastily summoned. Soon the strains Oi
! the Russian national anthem burst forth
. above the rattle of the Turkish musketry
! and the scream Of their shrapnel, and
simultaneously the spirit of the disheart-
ened ~assailants underwent a startling
transformation. They plucked up cour-
age again, responded cheerfully to the
word Of command and finally succeeded
in hurting the enemy back from the posi-
ton ne had won. In fact, such was tne
remarkable nature OF the metamorphOsis
from dispirited to spirited troops that n
all subsequent assaults SkObeloff had the
bands stationed with the supports, where
they could enliven with their strains. Ma
tional hymns and marches Formed tne
| principal feature of the programme, bu'
on several occasions the firing line Tough
their way across bullet swept zones VIII
F., the haunting refrain of a Strauss waltz
ringing in their ears.
The short though sanguinary campaign
between Bulgaria n Servia in the au'
tumn of 1885 witnessed the last Instance
of the employment of bands during &C
tive hostilities; and here, too, the example
set by Skobeleff vas pushed to truly
startling extreme. The third day of tn
., battle of Slivnica found the Servians ap
parently i~mpregnably posted on the steer
hills in the neighborhood of Dragoman
! Nothing daunted, however, the brava Bull
garians formed for frontal attack, an>
! General Bendereff issued the e%xtraordi
nary order that every battalion OF IN
fantry would be not only accompania'
but headed by it's band playing tn
"Djumi Maritza," the national air. Ac
cordingly the charging battalions toile'
up the ascent in this formation, tn
bands never ceased playing for one in
slant. A German officer attached to tn
staff of Prince Alexander of Battenberi
in recording his experiences, states tina
the progress of each unit could be easil.
followed by the crescendo and diminu
.rao of tho n,,sic II the most expose
places the air became thin and ragged
and the rattle of the bullets on the bras
: instruments was plainly audible from tn
valley below. Then. when the crest wa
: reached, and the Servians broke and fled
: the "Diumi Martha" swelled forth agail
in victori0us volume. Strange to relate
. though, the casualties among the musi
clans were nothing like as serious as on
would have expected.
Since 1857, when the "Queen's Regula
tons have laid down that bandsmen ar
| to he effective as soldiers, to be perfect,
5 drilled and to be liable to serve In tn
= ranks in any emergency, the bands o
l British regiments have discarded all mu
{ sical RESPONSIBILITIES when accompanyln
, their units on active service. But tner
1 is one comparatively recent
: is the last on record-of a British mllltar
: hand finding themselves in action wit
their instruments about them. Al IN
) present juncture the Engagement a
= Bronkhorst Spruit, OF December 20, 1888
possesses peculiar significance, n tn
details of that treacherously planned dis
r aster are. alas! too familiar to need re
] capitulation. Therefore it only concern
t this paper to point out that the band c
: the ambuscaded 94th regiment, undo
e Colonel Anstruther. was in its usual plat
e at the head of the column ana was az
r ruptly stopped playing by the terrible vo
e lev which SO unexpectedly commenced tn
! hrst Boer war. The musicians. indee'
s suffered heavily in this one sided ana
: for their Instruments and comparativel
helplessness rendered them an easy targt
la circumstance OF which the Boere too
every ADVANTAGE. as the casualty return
; will testify.