Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1917-06-21
Taps.

In book OF personal letters and me-
MORALS 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
Gen. Daniel Butterfield's command, in
cluded bit of historical information that
is of too wide an interest TO be allowed
TO remain in such comparative obscuriiy.
II is, moreover, of unusual interest to-
day, when camps are again the dwelling
places OF thousands and the call of the
bugle is heard the length and breadth Of
the country.
Gen. Butteriield had ability as a mu-
sician in addition TO his ability as an army
organizer; he especially delighted in the
invention OF bugle calls.
Perhaps the most interesting as well as
the most beautiful of these calls is taps,
which, according TO the authoritative
story Of The generals bugIer, came into
existence in the following manner.
In the month OF July. 1862, The Army
OF the Potomac rested in camp at Hari-
sons Landing, point on the James
River in Virginia. II was Immediately
after the seven days of fighting before
Richmond. The losses had been heavy.
and the army was recruiting its strength
after the long struggle.
Day and night the long winding valley
and the hills on either side echoed TO the
bugle calls that marked the rhythm OF the
camp life. The scene was more ofpeace
than war, in spite OF military duties and
trappings; the many vacant places in the
ranks, TO which the new army had moi
yet become accustomed, and The sober
ing sense OF long-impending struggle
that was born OF the early reverses from
which they had just suffered, put the SOL
diers at the close OF each day into state
ofmedltation moi untouched with sadness.
The old order for flights out, which
had been inherited from the earliest West
Point memories, sounded a discordanI
and unsuitable note to the sensitive, mu-
sical ear OF the general.
He Immediately began turning over in
his mind such musical phrases as seemed
10 him 10 convey the suggestion OF the
peace and quiet of the camp-of rest after
labor. Perhaps the spirit OF the hour in
which that immortal musical phrase was
born might be more perfectly expressed
as sense OF pauSe-something related
to the words Of Shelley:
All deep silence, like the fearful calm
That slumbers in the storms portentous pause.
Having settled upon a combination Of
notes that seemed to him TO be in tune
with the sentiment OF sleeping camp Of
soldiers, he summoned his bugler, Norton,
and began 10 teach him the new call,
whisting the notes over many times, and
correcting their time and phrasing. AT
last, satisfied with the result, he iotted
the notes down with pencil on the back
OF an old envelope.
That same night Butteriield's own bri-
gade were the first TO listen 10 the linger-
ing refrain OF the new call, and the next
morning the buglers OF other camps near
by-for IFS music had carried far among
the hiIls-began 10 inquire as TO its mean
ing and 10 ask permission 10 learn IT.
Wherever il was heard it arrested mme-
diate attention and fingered in the memory.
1t passed from army corps to army corps
10 army corps with great rapidity, and
was finally substituted by general orders
for the old lights OUT call and printed
in the army regulations.
It's use in the military burial service,
both by veterans OF the war and by the
United States regular army, has added
greatly to the tenderness OF its associa-
tions. There are few musical phrases in
the world held in deeper reverence; IFS
sounding today will hush the noisiest and
most boisterous throng