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Introduction "I don't believe we can have an army without music." - General
Robert E. Lee (AmeriMusic). The American Civil War was the bloodiest conflict Americans have had
to face. "More than 600,000 men gave their lives for their country
in this war. This is more lives lost in one war than in all wars and conflicts
combined following this period in time" (American).
However, through all the death and political turmoil, music helped get
many a man through the ordeal. Music was a large part of everyone's life
at the time, maybe even more so for the soldiers entrenched in battles,
far from home. Music was not just for entertainment. It was a form of
moral support. It lifted the spirits of the soldiers on both sides of
the war, rallied support for their individual causes, and helped fight
the loneliness (Erbsen 3). Instrumental music was the calling card of every regiment in both armies.
They awoke to the sound of bugles, marched to war to the beat of a drum
and fifes or flutes, and went to sleep to the sound of harmonicas, banjos,
or more bugles. When a comrade fell in battle, they were ushered out of
this world to the sound of Taps. Music with lyrics also played a large part in the lives of the soldiers.
They wrote their own or changed the lyrics to popular songs of their time
to make them more fitting for their particular mood or predicament. "Military
bands were called upon to play at recruitment rallies" (Music).
These military bands often helped recruitment numbers, as men would feel
more patriotic after hearing such powerful songs being played. As more
men joined up, band regiments were created in each army unit. The bands
played for parades, evening concerts and numerous other events. Union and Confederate armies both authorized regimental bands. Union
army rules allowed each artillery or infantry regiment to have one 24-member
band and the cavalry was limited to a 16-member band. The popularity of
the bands forced the War Department to make changes to the rules in order
to organize the bands better. They instituted a new rule in 1862, discharging
regimental bands. Brigade bands were formed to serve the entire brigade of a division (Music).
However, the regimental bands were so popular that many soldiers would
simply re-enlist as combatant soldiers and be reassigned to smaller regimental
bands that the regiment leaders approved of. In the South, the availability of bands was poor due to the fact that
there were not as many people qualified to play instruments as there were
in the North. Instruments were also harder to find and expensive to buy.
The North had the luxury of more money being floated throughout the communities
and more factories pumping out metal and other products making access
to instruments much easier. In each band, it was common to have a bugler, a fifer, and a drummer.
The drummer and the fifer went together in most musical occasions, however
they were not always allowed to enter into battle. If there was a battle
that they were not allowed to fight in, they were reassigned to the rear
lines to assist the doctors and medical staff. In some cases, regiments
allowed their drummers and fifers into the field, in which case they stood
playing patriotic songs for the men falling around them. Buglers were more associated with cavalry regiments. Cavalries became
so familiar with their bugler's calls that they could distinguish the
calls from other buglers on the field (Music).
Music was such a popular pastime of the soldiers that many songs became
popular on both sides. In some cases, songs from one side would find themselves
listened to on the other side with different lyrics more fitting to their
location and ideologies. Probably the most famous Civil War era song was Julia Ward Howe's "Battle
Hymn of the Republic", which used the tune of the abolitionist song,
"John Brown's Body" (PBS).
However, there were many other songs that both sides knew well, including
"Dixie Land," which was also reworked by the North to be called
the "Union Dixie." Music also found its way to the slaves still held captive in the south. Some of the most popular songs known today are actually Emancipation Spirituals (AmeriMusic). Almost everyone knows the tune or the lyrics to "Nobody Knows the
Trouble I've Seen" and "Free at Last." Many of the songs
sung by the slaves or abolitionists were heavily rooted in faith and the
Bible. On all sides of the war, music played a large part, whether it was trying to rouse morale of soldiers or slaves, or to call a regiment to arms. Music was used to command regiments to align themselves in certain formations, to entertain the public, and to say goodbye to fallen comrades. Music could have been one the single most important parts of the war on all sides. |