This is from my blog.
It’s a simple and heart-rending melody.
It is only 24 notes long.
It always puts a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.
It will also cause me to weep unashamedly.
Most people have heard “Taps”, even if they don’t recall the name.
Most people, also, know no history of the famous song.
After the Seven Days Battle in July, 1862, General Dan Butterfield and bugler Oliver Wilcox Norton reworked a bugle call known as “Scott Tattoo” to create “Taps.”
“Taps” was first used during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862 when a gunner from Battery “A” of the second artillery was buried. As the battery was in a forward wooded area close to Confederate lines, the traditional three shot volley was unsafe as it would have given the enemy a good idea of where the battery was located.
Captain Tidball ordered “Taps” to be used as a safe salute to a fallen comrade.
The Confederates also used “Taps.” Approximately ten months after it was written, “Taps” was also sounded over the grave of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson.
Starting in 1891, Army Infantry Regulations required “Taps” to be sounded at all military funerals.
It’s a simple and heart-rending melody.
It is only 24 notes long.
It always puts a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.
It will also cause me to weep unashamedly.
Most people have heard “Taps”, even if they don’t recall the name.
Most people, also, know no history of the famous song.
After the Seven Days Battle in July, 1862, General Dan Butterfield and bugler Oliver Wilcox Norton reworked a bugle call known as “Scott Tattoo” to create “Taps.”
“Taps” was first used during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862 when a gunner from Battery “A” of the second artillery was buried. As the battery was in a forward wooded area close to Confederate lines, the traditional three shot volley was unsafe as it would have given the enemy a good idea of where the battery was located.
Captain Tidball ordered “Taps” to be used as a safe salute to a fallen comrade.
The Confederates also used “Taps.” Approximately ten months after it was written, “Taps” was also sounded over the grave of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson.
Starting in 1891, Army Infantry Regulations required “Taps” to be sounded at all military funerals.
