While studying the Civil War, I learned that army drummers had more to do with communication than with music. Military drummers have played an important role in warfare throughout history. Soldiers marched to the sound of the drums, including into battle where beat could also regulate loading and re-loading of their weapons. Drum cadences could raise morale during the fight.
While working on genealogy, I learned about two of army drummers among my relatives–one during the American Revolution, the other during World War I.
Revolutionary War
Revolutionary War drummers and fifers were used in battle to signal the soldiers to fire. During fog or smoke, when visual command was impossible, musical instruments were the only way to communicate to the troops. During the Revolutionary War, drummer boys played a valuable role, supporting the troops by helping with camp chores, besides their job of signaling during combat and boosting troop morale with uplifting cadences.
An ancestor, Jacob Jordan (1764-1849) served as a drummer boy with Pennsylvania troops, enlisting on his 16th birthday. He also helped guard Burgoyne’s men after Burgoyne surrendered. About 4000 of his troops were quartered at Charlottesville, Virginia, guarded by old men and boys of the region.
Jacob Jordan was the grandfather of David Jordan, who was Leora Goff Wilson’s Grandpap Jordan.
Civil War
Drummers were important during the Civil War. One drummer boy was John Lincoln Clem who served in the Civil War. This is a 10-minute story about him.
World War I
Leora Wilson’s brother, Jennings Goff from Guthrie County, Iowa, was drafted and served with the 88th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in France. (Co. K, 349th Inf.) Still in France after the Armistice, Jennings wrote home from Reffroy, France, “I haven’t beat the drum since I left Camp Dodge. I haven’t seen it for two months. They don’t use them on this side. . . I have Been attached to Battalion headquarters nearly every since I have been in France, as a signal man.”
Jennings Goff’s younger son Ron Goff wrote me in 2018 that his father told him and older half brother (Merrill Goff) that he’d been a drummer during the war, but he offered no further details. By then, the army had evidently developed better means of communicating than by drum cadences.
It’s a fascinating rabbit hole of history, isn’t it!
How about an extra rabbit hole: U.S. Army’s Fife and Drum Corps Drumline performing The Adventures of Joe 90.
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History of Noble County, Ohio, pub. by L. H. Watkins & Co., Chicago, 1887
Letter to M.S. and Laura Goff from Jennings B. Goff, December 14, 1918