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From: Xenia <>
Subject: Re: Drummer in Battle of New Orleans
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 08:55:48 -0700 (MST)
In-Reply-To: <3C61475E.7180D5E@datastar.net>



Dear Marsha,

In old occupations where a drummer was not a musician, he was a traveling
salesman - i.e. one who drummed up business.

However, in terms of the military a drummer was one who played the
drums. Usually drummers in the military were young boys (aged 11 and up)
with a vital role. Each formation usually had one officer and one
drummer. The drummer played the march, drum rolls and other key pieces
to boost morale, serve notice of an announcement or other similar
roles. A certain beat could send the message of the officer to his
troops far beyond what his voice could reach. Along with the drummer
was often a piper or fifer and these were often the only two pieces in a
"military band" who between daily duties on the battlefield would
entertain the troops.

Drummers were key parts of the army when foot-soldiers were involved. I
find references to them in literature back to medieval times at least.
Sometimes the older name for this occupation was "tambours".

An article called "Children at War" gives as a Glossary item: drummer boy -
"boys as young as 15 who joined the army as a musician". However, many signed
up younger often lying about their age to join the action. In Pennsylvania
in the late 1700s boys were signed up as drummers as young as 10 and as
old as 17. Once they turned 18 they became regular soldiers.

An article at
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1219.html states
that the youngest to claim to have signed on as a drummer boy during
the Civil War was 9 years and 20 days old. There is an excellent cartoon
and explanation of what the drummer boy did during battle and other times
when not playing his drum. This article claims that the romantic view of
the drummer boy playing during battle is not true. However, I have read
accounts where this is exactly what they did especially in the earlier
times in Europe - particularly the signalling required of the drummer,
bugler and piper when there were no other means to send messages to
soldiers far behind the officer leading the battle.

The article here though gives a very realistic picture
of other more mundane duties of a young boy in the military and how
unromantic and real were the dangers.

For an example of a Union drummer boy see
http://oha.co.alexandria.va.us/fortward/special-sections/freedom
For some poems and stories about drummer boys see
http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/techstuf/civilwar/drumless.html

A book called "Charley Skedaddle" by Patricia Beatty (Morrow, 1987) is the
story of a 12 year old boy who wants to join the Union Army to avenge the
death of his brother at the Battle of Gettysburg. Since he is too young to
enlist as a soldier, he runs away from home, sneaks onto a troop ship and
becomes a drummer boy.

Another book on a drummer boy is the one called "Drummer Boy: Marching to
the Civil War" by Ann Warren Turner and illustrated by Mark Hess. I think
it is out of print and I don't know the publisher or date of publication.
This is a book for children around the grade 3-5 age group but is
beautifully illustrated and helps understand the attraction this role held
for young boys. Another is "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" written for an older
age group by none other than the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.

Another book is "The Diary of a Drummer Boy" by Marlene Targ Brill and
illustrated by Michael Garland (great name for an illustrator!).

An excellent article about the role of drummer boys set to the marching
tune is at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hmore/DRUMMERB.HTM
This is the story of a real drummer boy: John W. Morgan born January 20,
1845.

There is some history of fife and drum corps as it relates to the French
Company of Indiana at
http://virtual-indiana.com/TAFDC/html/fifes_and_drums.html.

An ad in the January 2, 1792 Knoxville Gazette reads "Drummer Boy fond of
whiskey. Run off from the Malitia (sic), his Captain will pay $10 reward
for his return or will be pleased if he is kept in jail until payment can
be made."

In fact in the Louisiana State Museum there is a drum from a real drummer
boy in the Battle of New Orleans on display. The boy was 15 year old
Jordan Noble. Is this the boy you are researching?

Oh course the most famous drummer boy poem is the one set to music and
sung every Christmas - called The Little Drummer Boy.

So indeed in the case of the army or battles, the drummer does play the
drums.

On Wed, 6 Feb 2002, Marsha wrote:

> Hi Everybody,
> An ancestor of mine is listed as 'Drummer' at the Battle of New
> Orleans. I have been advised that 'Drummer' is not one that plays the
> drums. Just curious to know what a drummer was. Anyone out there
> know?
>
> Thanks, Marsha
>
>
> ==== ACADIAN-CAJUN Mailing List ====
> For a very extensive list of Acadian-Cajun and French-Canadian surnames, connect to http://www.acadian.org/surnames.html
>
>

--
à bientôt

Xenia Stanford ()
A.G.E. Ancestree Genealogical Enterprises
Look for my column "Nos Racines Francaises" at
http://globalgazette.net/
Contact information at http://www.cadvision.com/xenias/contact.html

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