December 16, 2001

Sad-Sweet Bugle Call

The events of Sept. 11, and the three months since, have made Americans all too familiar with the sad-sweet refrains of the bugle call "Taps."

Those 24 notes, played at thousands of funerals and memorial services, remind us of the sacrifices others suffered on behalf of our great nation. How that music came to be composed is little known.

Our story begins with an article titled "The Trumpet in Camp and Battle" published by "Century Magazine" in 1898. It explains the bugle calls commonly used during the Civil War. The now famous scrap of military command was said to have derived from a song written for Napoleon.

"Not so," wrote a reader named Oliver W. Norton of Chicago:

"I was much interested in reading the article by Mr. Gustav Kobbe, on trumpet and bugle calls in which he says he has been unable to trace the origin of the call now used for "Taps," or the "Go To Sleep," as it is generally called by the soldiers.

"During the early part of the Civil War, I was bugler at the headquarters of Butterfield's Brigade, Meroll's Division, Fitz-John Porter's Corp, Army of the Potomac.

"Up to July, 1862, the infantry call for Taps was that set down in Casey's Tactics. which Mr. Kobbe says was borrowed from the French.

"Soon after the seven-day Peninsular battles, when the Army of the Potomac was lying in camp at Harrison's Landing, General Daniel Butterfield, then commanding our brigade, sent for me. He showed me some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope. He asked me to sound them on my bugle.

"I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter, in place of the regulation call.

"The music was beautiful on that still summer night and was heard far beyond the limits of our brigade. The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighboring brigades, asking for copies of the music, which I gladly furnished.

"No general order was issued from army headquarters authorizing the substitution of this for the regulation call. However, as each brigade commander exercised his own discretion in such minor matters, the call was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac.

"I have been told that it was carried to the Western Armies by the 11th and 12th Corps, when they went to Chattanooga in the Fall of 1863, and rapidly made its way through those armies.

"I did not presume to question General Butterfield at the time. From the manner in which the call was given to me, I have no doubt he composed it in his tent at Harrison's Landing.

"General Butterfield is living at Cold Spring, N.Y. If you think the matter of sufficient interest, and care to write him on the subject, I have no doubt he will confirm my statement. Oliver W. Norton."

Butterfield's Letter

The editor of "Century Magazine" wrote Butterfield, as suggested, and received a prompt reply:

"I recall in my dim memory, the substantial truth of the statement made by Norton, of the 83rd Pa., about bugle calls. His letter gives the impression that I personally wrote the notes for the call.

"The facts are, that at the time I could sound calls on the bugle as a necessary part of military knowledge and instruction for an officer commanding a regiment or brigade. I had acquired this as a regimental commander.

"I had composed a call for my brigade, to precede any calls, indicating that such were orders, for my brigade alone. This was of very great use and effect on the march and in battle. It enabled me to cause my whole command, at times, in march, covering over a mile on the road, all to halt instantly and lie down, Then all arise and start at the same moment, to forward in line of battle simultaneously, in action and charge, etc. This saves fatigue.

"The men rather liked their call, and began to sing my name to it. It was three notes and a catch. I cannot write a note of music, but have gotten my wife to write it from my whistling to her, and I enclose the music.

"The men would sing "Dan, Dan, Dan, Butterfield, Butterfield" to the notes. Later, in battle, or in some trying circumstances or an advance of difficulties, they sometimes sang, "Damn, Damn, Damn, Butterfield, Butterfield."

"The (regulation) call of Taps did not seem to be as smooth, melodious and musical as it should be. I called in someone who could write music, and (we) practiced a change in the call of Taps until I had it suit my ear. Then, as Norton writes, we got it to my taste without being able to write music or knowing the technical name of any note; but simply by ear, arranged it as Norton describes.

"I do not recall him in connection with it, but his story is substantially correct. Will you do me the favor to send Norton a copy of this letter by your typewriter? I have none. Daniel Butterfield."

* * *

Gen. Butterfield lost 602 men in that battle. In the subsequent Peninsular Campaign that ended July 2, both sides together suffered 11,000 deaths. It can be imagined that after a horrific week of fighting -- and the Fourth of July anniversary at hand -- Gen. Butterfield was in no mood for the curt bugle command "Lights Out."

Certainly he captured sorrow and well-earned rest in just 24 bugle notes.

Gen. Butterfield served with distinction during the Civil War, and was wounded at the battle of Gaines Mill in Virginia June 27, 1862. He seized the colors of the 3rd Pennsylvania and rallied the regiment at a critical time. Years later, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for that act of heroism.  

He stayed in the Army after the war to serve as superintendent of the Army Recruiting Service in New York City. He was in charge of a number of special public ceremonies, including General William Tecumseh Sherman's funeral in 1889. Butterfield also designed the system of Corps badges that are distinctive shapes of colored cloth sewn onto uniforms to distinguish units.

Butterfield died in 1901. His tomb is among the most ornate in the West Point cemetery though he never attended there. There is a monument of Butterfield in New York City near Grant's Tomb. There is nothing on either monument that mentions "Taps" or Butterfield's association with the call. "Taps" was sounded at this funeral.

The Virginia American Legion, however, has erected a monument to "Taps" near the battlefield where Gen. Butterfield's composed the haunting melody.  

The earliest official reference to the mandatory use of "Taps" at military funeral ceremonies is found in the U.S. Army Infantry Drill Regulations for 1891. However, it undoubtedly had been used unofficially long before that time under its former designation as "Extinguish Lights."  

A history of bugle calls has been compiled by Master Sergeant Jari A. Villanueva of the U.S. Air Force Band at Bolling, Washington, D.C. He says there is no evidence for a popular legend about the origin of  "Taps."

Supposedly, a Northern boy fighting for the South was killed and discovered by his father, Capt. Robert Ellison of the Union Army. The notes to "Taps" was discovered in the boy's Confederate uniform and played by a Union band at his funeral. The battle is not mentioned, and there is no record of a Capt. Robert Ellison.

After "Taps" was first sounded in 1862, words quickly were put with the music. The surviving favorite is "Day Is Done:"

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well, safely rest.
God is nigh.

Author: Lindsey Williams

cutlines

Illustrations from American Legion Magazine

3 col. cavalry

[ Butterfield was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading a charge that saved McClellan's flank at Gaines' Mill.  His losses may have inspired "Taps" sad mood. ]

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1 1/2 col. - soldier with two rows buttons. Note: pair with another pix same width.

[Gen. Daniel Butterfield, unable to read music, composed "Taps" in his mind. ]

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1 1/2 col. - vignette of man with ruffled shirt. Note: pair with above

[Oliver Norton was the first to sound Taps after practice with Butterfield.]  

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