Summary of the role of field musicians from 1775 to 1865 in the British and American armies.

1. Interpreting the Infantry Company Drummer

2. Defining the Role
 Drummers
 Fifers
 Bandsmen
 Buglers

3. Field Musicians v. Bandsmen
Drummers
Members of the Band
 Assigned to companies
 Bands were regimental or
 Paid by regulation
 Dictated routine by “camp
duties”
 Set cadence on the march
 Instruments were drum, fife
and/or bugle
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brigade level assignments after
1862
Referred to as musicians or
bandsmen prior to 1820s
Referred to as bandsmen after
1820s
Were often carried as privates or
drummers on the roster
Sometimes civilians not enlisted
but paid for by officers
Instruments were woodwinds
and later brass

4. Titles / Ranks
1775
1812
Drummer
Fifer
1820s 1850s
Drummer
Fifer
Private Musician
Musician
Drummer
Fifer

5. Buglers,
th
10
US Infantry, 1858

6. Musicians Assigned to an Infantry
Company
 1771 – British Army – 1 drummer
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per company, plus 2 fifers in the
grenadier company
1775 – British Army – 2 drummers
per company plus 2 fifers in the
grenadier company
1780 – Continental Army – 1
drummer and 1 fifer per company
1812 – US Army – 1 drummer and 1
fifer per company
1861 – US Army – 1 drummer and 1
fifer OR 1 bugler (if riflemen)

7. In Reality:
 1770s – nearly always, at least, one drummer
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per company
1843 – 1st Infantry was short drummers, a
private was assigned to the role as an extra
duty (with extra pay)
1846 – 1st Infantry had 15 officers, 8 musicians
and 155 bayonets
1861 – about 80% of companies had a
drummer
104th Illinois ~ 10 musicians in rosters,
however, 2 companies have two (E & H) and
two have none (B &C)

8. Duties
 Camus, Military Music of the American Revolution,
(University of North Carolina Press, 1976), p. 188. The
primary beats and calls included, The General, The March,
The Reveille, The Troop, The Retreat, The Tattoo, To Arms,
The Parley or Church Call, Roast Beef, The Drummers Call,
The Pioneers March, Three Cheers, The Grenadiers March,
and The Rogues March. No period manual identified by
Camus, includes all of the above, but many include other
beats as well as drum signals to call corporals, sergeants,
send for wood or water, etc
 Drummer of the Guard ~
 (Fifers were normally assigned as orderlies to officers of the
guard ~ See RO 18th Foot 28 December 1774, fifers to mount
guard with LTC Bruce )

9. Duties of the Drummer
 Beat the fifteen or so identified beats and calls and an additional
number of signals that regulated the movements of an eighteenthcentury infantry regiment.
 Provide cadence on the march. Two orderly drummers were to attend
the colonel or commander of the regiment to beat the necessary signals
to communicate the colonel’s intentions to the company commanders.
Whether or not marching commands were to be given by drumbeat is
unclear during the American War. By the mid-1770s, the regiments
trained with cadences from the drums and fifes, but did not rely on
those cadences in the field. By 1778, regulations clearly promulgated
‘Drums should be used as little as possible in maneuvering of
Regiments & Musik [sic] never.’
 Flog soldiers ordered punished by regimental or general courts martial
under the supervision of the drum major.

10. More on Duties of Drummers
 In action, save the two orderly drummers, drummers and fifers
were to ‘stay with their respective companies, and to assist the
wounded.’
 Williamson (1781) suggested that the drummers and fifers were to
practice at least ‘once a day, when the duty of the regiment will
permit it.’ Simes (1776) suggested that they practice together at
least twice a week. In the detachment of the 18th and 65th Foot in
Boston in 1775, the order was ‘Whenever the Weather will permit,
the Serjeant Major will see that the Drummers off duty go out to
practice every day and that they stay out a proper time practicing.’
18th Foot, RO 23 February 1775

11. Non-musical Duties
 Clean the guardroom or guardhouse when drummer of the
guard. Simes (1776) also states that the drummers were to
sweep out the officers’ and men’s necessary houses each
morning.
 Drummers on guard duty were also commonly responsible
for serving as an orderly to the officer(s) of the guard. At
least one period text, articulates that if bottles or even
silverware were left on the table by the officers, the
drummer should feel free to help himself. Drummers on
guard were also apparently responsible for keeping the
fireplace stoked with coals or wood. In general, it appears
as if the housekeeping chores of the guard detail were to be
carried out by the drummer of the guard.

12. Age of Drummers, American
Revolution
 22nd Regiment of Foot, 1778
average age 34 ¾ years old
youngest 26 years old
oldest 44 years old
Youngest enlisted at 12, next
youngest 18 years old
Oldest served till 45 years old

13. Age of Drummers, Civil War
• 1st Iowa Inf Regt.
average age 20.6 years old
• 4th Iowa Band
average age 29 years old
• 4th Iowa Inf Regt.
average age 21.4 years old
• 104th ILL Inf Regt.
average age 23 years old
Youngest drummer from
Iowa, 12 year old Commodore
P. Byam, the son of the 24th
Iowa regiment’s colonel

14. Arming Drummers
 Most British drummers were
armed with a “short sword
with a scimitar blade”
 Return of 6 coys the 55th Foot
Drummers, Fifers & Musicians
(January 1776) — 12 Drums, 12
Drum Cases, 12 Drum
carriages, 12 Pairs of Drum
Sticks, 12 Caps, 2 Fifes, 2 Fife
Cases, 22 Swords, 22 Sword
Belts
 American musicians were less
likely to be properly armed
early in the war

15. Musicians were authorized to carry
swords, but…..
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8th Ill – 1 for 1 qtr
10th Ill – had 5 in early 1863
13th Ill had 2
16th Ill had 9 only 1 by 1864
22nd Ill had 21 in 1863
74th Ill had 25 for 1 qtr
104th Ill had none
107th Ill had 7
Iowa had 2 musician’s swords
in 1861

16. Drummers under Arms
A variety of period sources articulate that
drummers and fifers were to be thoroughly
schooled in the manual of arms and be able
to serve in the ranks when necessary. In
Boston, a 9 March 1776 order makes it
apparent that some drummers were under
arms as privates. On 13 March 1776, General
Howe further ordered all drummers unable
to carry arms to be put aboard ship. It is
unclear if he armed the drummers and fifers
at that point. Some of the drummers of the
17th Foot appear to have served as privates in
the ranks during the 1776 campaign but were
returned to functioning as drummers in
winter quarters.

17. An act to increase the pay of soldiers in the
United States Army, and for other purposes.
June 20, 1864
 1775 – Privates 8d/day
Drummer 10d/day
Corporal 10d/day
 1841 – Privates $7
Musician $8
Corporal $9
1861
 Musicians $12/month
 Privates $13/ month
 Musicians & Privates
increased to $16/month
in June 1864

18. Equipment
 Drummers were issued the same
equipment as privates excepting
firearms and bayonets
 Knapsacks, haversacks and
canteens
 Prior to the Civil War drummers
almost always were issued swords

19. Summary
 Drummers tended to be as old, if not
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older, than the average private
Drummers carried the same equipment
as privates save for weapons
Drummers were not normally assigned
to fatigue duty
Drummers of the Guard had
housekeeping duties; Fifers served as
orderlies on Guard
Drummers should be able to familiar
with the manual of arms
Drummers often could play the bugle
and/or the fife as well