Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-05-30

clans enlisted for each company of In.
fantry. Usually one was a fifer and
one drummer
lf boy could show himself very
Skillful at the rub-a .dub-dub or tootle-
te-toOt he would be taken, even II be
lacked couple of years. a couple OF
inches and Il score Of pounds TO bring
him up to the regulation size. age and
weight This accounts for Willie
johnson. aged thirteen, who was
awarded u medal Of honor for some
gallant act performed the second yeur
OF the war while he was drummer In
the Third Vermont; for the boy Nun
son OF the Twenty-third Massachu-
sets, who was mortaliy wounded at
q the buttle Vt Roanoke while only thir-
teen; Of Gardner. the drummer Of the
Eighth Michigan, brought home to his
anxious, waiting mother, dead from
wound received IN battle when he was
but little over thirteen
Blue or gray. 1t made no difference.
There were A. X. Clark, a drummer of
the Fifth Georgia regiment, who went
through the campaign weighing but
ninety-hve pounds. and little Gilfen OF
Tennessee, the hero of classic war
lyric, who was nursed back to life
from an awful wound only to 60 forth
again to battle and never be heard
from more.
The hfe and drum corps of an in.
fantry regiment formed a unit in II.
self. The members were detached
from the companies In which they had
enlisted and attached to regimental
headquarters, the same as the color
guard. Under a chief they occupied
separate quarters and were subject to
the directions of the colonel's staff of.
hcers. In battle the fifers and drum.
mers, especially during the early days
OF the war, assisted the surgeons In
the care of the wounded. Often they
were with strangers, administering to
the fallen, and errands of mercy called
them to distant parts of the field.
In 1863 the Federal ambulance CORPS
was organized, and the work of giving
drst aid and removing the wounded
was done thereafter by ambulance at.
tendants, This arrangement relieved
the musicians Of the duty Of removing
wounded in stretchers and left them
free to roam the field in search of
suffering victims
Unlike the regimental band, the reg.
imental 1fe and drum corps, which
includes the regimental bugler, has
practical duty to perform In the rou
tine OF camp and march. The band
Is a luxury ana an ornament. Con.
gfess discovered that early In 1862
and legiSlated hundreds of bands out
Of existence
The TOO then in service employed
1900 men and had already cost S.,
100000 In addition to the pay of the
men, their food and the expense of
transporting them 1t was plain at
that date that the war was to be
long and costly one
The musicians were regularly enlist.
ed soldiers, who could not be forced
to take up arms and fight unless they
chose. The only way to abolish the
bands was to muster them out of
service. But music was not totally
banlshed from the army camps. Brl.
gade bands were formed. and some
regiments or their officers or patrons
at home paid the expenses and retain.
ed the music
The bugIe and the tlfe and drum are
essential In an army TO sound the va.
rious calls which swiftly. as well as
musically, Slgna the orders OF the
commander Ia the troops These in.
clnde the familiar ones OF getting
'em up IN the mornin'" and "go TO
sleep 60 TO sleep go to sleep" reveille
and tnps In camp certain calls are
sounded periodically day In and day
out. hut on campaign many Of them
are signals to sudden change Of &C
tlon
With the army strung out for miles.
the bugle or drum at headquarters
starts the signal rolling. The nearest
drums or buglOs repeat 1t, the notes
often mingling. In emergencies the
first signal may he overtaken before II
reaches the end OF the line by another
sent out TO supersede II. The "long
roll" beaten on the drum or the bugle
calls ITO arms" and ITO horseT' an.
nounce the sudden appearance OF the
enemy.
The armies Of hfty years ago had no
telephone or megaphone and only an
imperfectly developed telegraph and
dag signal system Practically then
the bugle or drum, even in the hands
Of schoolboy, was an Official mouth
piece which might order men into
the Jaws OF DEATH also recall them
In nick o time back from the mouth
NJ hell"
A Judge threatened TO sond wrang
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