The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-05-03
TAPS" FIRST SOUNDED
IN THE CIVIL WAR, 1867
COMPOSED BY GENERAL BUT
TERRIFIED WHILE IN
CAMP.

Of. w. Burrows in Youths Companion)
In a book Of personal letters and
memorials printed for circulation
among his friends, Oliver w Norton,
"A veteran of the civil war who at the
beginning of his military career was
brigade bugler to General Daniel But
terheld's command, included "A bit Of
historical information that is of too
wide an interest to be allowed to re-
main in such comparative obscurity.
1t is, moreover, of unusual interest
today, when camps are again the
dwelling places of thousands and the
call of the bugle is heard the length
and breadth of the country.
General Buttertield had ability as
musician in addition to his ability as
an army organizer; he especially de-
lighted in the invention of bugle calls.
Perhaps the most interesting as we'll
as the most beautiful of these calls Is
taps, which, according to the authori-
tative story of the generals bugler,
came into existence in the following
manner.
In the month of July, 1862, the army
of the Potomac rested in camp at
Harrison's Landing, a point on the
James river in Virginia. 1t was inn
mediately after the seven days of
fighting before Richmond. The loss
es had been heavy and the army was
recruiting its strength after the long
struggle.
Day and night the long winding val
ley and the hills on either side echoed
to the bugle calls that marked the rhy-
thin of the camp life. The scene was
more of peace than war, in spite OF
military duties and trappings; the
many vacant places in the ranks, to
which the new army had not yet be-
come accustomed, and the SOLDERING
sense OF a long impending struggle
that was born of the early reverses
from which they had just suffered, put
the soldiers at the close Of each day
into a state of meditation not nn-
touched with sadness.
The old order for lights OUT which
had been inherited from the earliest
West Point memories, sounded a dis
cordant and unsuitable note to the
sensitive, musical ear of the general
He Immediately began turning over
in his mind such musical phrases as
seemed to him to convey the sugges-
ton, of the peace and quiet of the
rest after labor Perhaps
the spirit of the hour in which that
immortal musical phrase was born
might be more perfectly expressed as
a sense of pause-something related
to the words Of Shelley:
All is deep silence, like the fearful
calm
That slumbers in the storms porten-
tious pause.
Having settled upon combination
of notes that seemed to him to be In
tune with the sentiment of sleep
ing camp of soldiers, he summoned
his bugler, Norton, and began to
teach him TIE new call, whistling the
notes over many times, and correct
ing their time and phrasing At last
satisfied with the result, he jotted the
notes down with pencil on the back
or an old envelOp.
That same night Butterfelds own
brigade were the first to listen to the
lingering refrain of the new call. and
the next morning the buglers Of 9TH
er camps near by--for it's music had
carried far among the hills-began to
inquire as to it's meaning and to ask
permission to learn It, Wherever II
was heard it arrested immediate at
tention and fingered in the memory
1t passed from army corps to army
corps with great rapidity, and was
finally substituted by general orders
for the old lights out" call and print
ed in the army regulations.
It's use in the military burial service
both by veterans Of the war and 10y
the United States regular army, has
added greatly to the tenderness of til
associations. There are few musica
phrases in the world held in deeper
reverence; its sounding today vii
hush the noisest and most bolsterou
throng.
General Daniel Butterfield was bori
Tin Utica, N. Y, october 81. 1881. HI
was graduated from Union college II