"Why Revolutionary War musicians wore different colored" Topic

…uniforms

"We've all seen the famous painting, Spirit of '76. In it, a young Revolutionary War drummer boy is marching alongside two other musicians. The boy is in his Continental Army uniform, looking up to an older drummer who is not in uniform. Another uniformed musician is wounded, but marching and playing the fife.

Today, Civil War veteran Archibald Willard's 1875 painting still evokes patriotism in many Americans. It was, after all, painted on the eve of the United States' centennial. Willard was the grandson of one of the Green Mountain Boys who, led by legendary patriot Ethan Allen, invaded Canada and captured Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolution. But there are a few errors in the painting: The scene it depicts never happened, the flag in the background wasn't approved by Congress until much later, and the musicians are not wearing the right uniforms…"

link

Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

So enemy marksmen could easily identify to "pop" them ?

Regiments were identified on the battlefield by their facing colors. At a long distance only the flag and the musicians allowed a clear identification.

Curious though, how many British regiments, for example, had similar facings, esp. shades of yellow or buff.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The 'opposite colors' of musicians was done to make them easily identifiable to their commanders in the smoke and mess of combat.

That being said, not all British regiments wore reversed colors. And that is in the 1768 uniform warrant. It applied to all royal regiments, who wore red coats with blue facings as the rest of the regiment with the exception of the royal lace.

British regiments that had red facings had their drummers and fifers in white uniforms faced red.

Thanks Kevin.

Amicalement
Armand

The Continental Army followed the same practice, the musicians in the infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments observing it whenever possible.

For the British, most musicians were either given a musket, or sent home to recruit. Very few performed the duties of a drummer or fifer (only attached to the grenadier companies anyway) in battle. Reason being – in the din of battle, you really can't distinguish the drum signals anyway.

In Wolfe's Instruction to Young Officers, he suggests dismissing the drummers to assist with helping the wounded.

Also, at least for the British, the Colonel paid for the musician's coat (as he did for all his soldiers, at least until reimbursed), so they would be as colorful or plain as he saw fit.

…in the din of battle, you really can't distinguish the drum signals anyway.

'Drums were more than musical instruments: They were the voice of the regiment, beating the signals that regulated its daily life, tightening its ranks on weary marches, pounding out the colonel's orders across the crash of battle. They were its communication system: Relayed drum signals could carry the length and front of a division faster than a horse could gallop…In combat, the drums established the tempo and regularity of the regiment's maneuvers…For an attack, the drummers might be massed for greater effect, marching into the fire behind the drum major's high plumes and swinging baton.'-John Elting, Swords Around A Throne, 336-337.

It looks like you can hear the drums in combat…

…the Colonel paid for the musician's coat (as he did for all his soldiers, at least until reimbursed), so they would be as colorful or plain as he saw fit.

A distinction should be made between the drummers and fifers, who were soldiers, and for any band a regiment might have, who were hired musicians. There is a great difference.

For the British, most musicians were either given a musket, or sent home to recruit. Very few performed the duties of a drummer or fifer (only attached to the grenadier companies anyway) in battle.

See pages 157-160 of Matthew Spring's With Zeal and Bayonets Only. The references are mixed as to what British drummers actually did in combat, on the march, and while maneuvering. Some units and commanders used them as they were intended, some did not.

So have you ever event attended a battle re-enactment? If you have, you know that hearing distinct drum calls on a field of (even make believe) battle is impossible. Only worse, I would imagine, in real combat. I am also pretty sure that John Elting wasn't there either. I'd be more impressed if you could find a period reference.

And yes, the Colonel determined how much to spend on the drummers' and fifers' uniform. We both know I wasn't talking about a regimental band.

While reenactors have a certain inherent value historically, they aren't soldiers and what they do isn't soldiering.

So your answer is no, you've never stood on a reenactment field. Shame as if you did, you'd understand some things better. So I welcome a period passage on the subject of drum commands on the field of battle. Good luck finding that. I can provide one to support my experience. How'd that British drummer beating a parley do at Yorktown?

Have you read Spring's book? Have you read Swords Around a Throne by Col Elting?

There are others you might want to look at if you're really interested.

Years ago we were at a reenactment at Mannasas and the maneuvering was over and there were static displays available to take a look at and one reenactor was explaining artillery ammunition and actually had a common shell that had a fuse in it and beat on the fuse with a hammer to show that it would not go off.

All that demonstrated that he had no idea what a dud was and that there was always a chance of it going off no matter how old it might be. All that reenactor demonstrated was that he was about as sharp as a marble.

You're missing the point – I assume on purpose, and have yet to provide a period reference. I'm still waiting….

Be careful when using reenactors as a resource, just like books, some are very very good others aren't… When it comes to drums many reenactor drummers use muffled drums becaus its sound "better", "fuller". I've heard unmuffled drums and my recollection is they have a higher, "tinnier" sound. I was

Very hard to hear "music" signals on a field. Spring alluded to that and other issues (such as not taking colors in the field.)

Spring did allude to that-he also left the issue up in the air.

He challenged the orthodoxy. Same thing applies to later eras. There are not many primary accounts where regimental music "went into action."

The Grenadier attack at Brandywine, for example had the massed fifes and drums in the back providing encouragement (The Grenadiers' March) but after that, they weren't really a factor.

"Be careful when using reenactors as a resource, just like books, some are very very good others aren't…"

Yikes. Seems I made my point poorly. My "point" was that if you have ever spent time as a reenactor participating in mock battles – without bullets, shells, or men screaming in agony – you'd know that hearing anything is problematic. I am a former drummer, led a fife and drum group for years, but even in the din of fake battle, there is little chance you could hear a particular drum signal, or know if was your battalion's, or the one next to you. And even in all my years reenacting, I never heard anything like the 10,000+ men, and 100+ guns of an anniversary event for Gettysburg (there as a spectator, not participant). The noise was simply overwhelming.

"When it comes to drums many reenactor drummers use muffled drums because its sound "better", "fuller"."

I have no idea what you are talking about. Period reproduction drums use calf skin heads. The more humid it becomes, the less sharp the sound. You can tighten your cat gut (really have no idea what they were made of, but some sort of animal sinew) snares all you want, but the humidity makes them less effective as well. We always tightened ours as much as possible as we drummers liked the sharper sound. The rope tension was likely susceptible to the humidity as we well.

"I've heard unmuffled drums and my recollection is they have a higher, "tinnier" sound."

Again, not sure what you mean by muffled.

Colonel's could spend any amount they wanted on a musicians coat. Drum signals were written by officers/musicians during peace time. No doubt the drums works well on the drill field, which is perhaps where it played its strongest roll in teaching the men to move together by cadence, both in the movements of the manual of arms, and in marching pace/wheeling. But given the realities of noise on the field of battle, the open and extended order the British army fought in, all that made the drummers less effective than on the peace time drill field.

It is my understanding that the officer commanding the battalion kept a drummer near to him in the center of the line. Obviously the detached grenadiers kept their fifers and drummers, at least through the Brandywine campaign, as witnessed by their massed use at Birmingham Hill. Only the grenadier companies were authorized to have fifers. The fact there isn't any period reference to drums relaying commands says it all. This from an old drummer. :-)