The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-08-01
TAPS IN The ARMY
~ Z. l.
Story of the Bug|e Call, Lights
Gut" Now In Use.
WAS FIRST SOUNDED IN 1862,

| VIM ~ s~~S
General Butterfisid Composed the Mslo-
dious Strain, Which Quickly Sup
planted the ora and Unmusieal West
Point Signal.
In book Of personal letters and me-
MORALS printed for circulation among
his friends Oliver W. Norton. vet
| eran OF the war between the states,
who at the beginning Of bis military
| career was brigade buGler to General
Daniel Buttertield's command, lncild-
ed bit of historical information that
is Of too wide all interest to be allowed
to remain in such comparative obscure
ty, says the Youths Companion.
General Buttertield had ability as
musician in addition to his abllit, as
all army organizer. He especially de-
lighted 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 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 Har'
rison's Landing, point on the James
river in Virginia. 1t 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 val
ley and the hills on either side echoed
to the bugle calls that marked the
rhythm 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 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 untouch-
ed with sadness.
The old order Of flights out" which
had been inherited from the earliest
West Point memories, sounded dis
cordant and unsuitable note to the sen
sitlye 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 camp
of rest after labor. Perhaps the spir-
it 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 Is deep silence, like the fearful calm
That slumbers In the storms portentous
pause.
Having settled upon combination
Of notes that seemed to him to be In
tune with the sentiment of sleeping
camp of soldiers, he summoned his bu-
ger, Norton and began to teach him
the new CALL whistling the notes over
many times and correcting their time
and phrasing. At last, satisfied with
the result, he jotted the notes down
with a pencil OH the back of all old
envelope.
That same night Buttertield's own
brigade was the first to listen to the
lingering refrain of the new call, ana
the next morning the buglers OF other
camps near by-fOr its music had car
ried far among the lills--DeSan to In
quire as to it's meaning and to ask per
mission to learn 1t. Wherever it was
L. %ol {,,,rp Htafn at hi
and fingered in the memory. 1t passed
from army corps to army corps Win
great rapidity and was finally substii
tuted by general orders for the Old
flights OUT call and printed in the
army regulations.
Its 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 It's
associations. There are few musical
phrases in the world held in deeper
reverence. Its sounding today will
hush the noisiest and most bOisterOus
thrOng.
General Daniel Butterfield was born
in Utica, N. Y, Oct. 81, 1881 He was
graduated from Union college In 1S49
and joined the Seventytirst regiment
of New York in 1851. In 1860 he had
risen to the rank of colonel OF the
Twelfth regiment, which lie led to
Washington IN April, 1861.
For his efficiency as an organizer he
was rapidly promoted and took part III
many of the most important engage
ments Of the war. His brigade was
one of the most famous of the Army
Of the Potomac, and his personal
bravery endeared him to his own sol
diers. After the war his organizing
powers were frequently called into req
uisition for great public parades and
exhibitions. He died at Cold Spring,
N. Y, July II, 1901.