The Young Campaigner

Stephen Foster and His Influence on 19th Century Music

by William Chapman

One of the most influential people in 19th century American music is Stephen Foster. Along with Daniel Emmett, Dan Rice, Joel Walker Sweeney, and many others, Stephen Foster wrote and performed songs that were loved all over the country. His songs would be played on plantations, in dirty roadside inns, on Mississippi River steamboats, and by the light of countless army bivouac fires.

Foster was born on Independance Day in 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. It was on the same day, in the evening, that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both passed away. He grew up in a poor household with nine siblings and an alcoholic father. Stephen's oldest sister, Charlotte, was already talanted pianist by the time of Stephen's birth. In 1829, Charlotte died of Malaria in Louisville, Kentucky. Her death as well as several other events added to the unhappiness of Stephen's childhood.

Foster's teenage years proved to be happier than his earlier ones. He started taking classical music lessons from a German immigrant named Henry Kleber, who owned a music store in Pittsburg. Foster learned to play the flute at Athens Academy and later performed his first composition on it in Athens, Pennsylvania. Also, in 1833, his father got involved in the temperance movement and took an oath to stop drinking.

During Stephen Foster's adolescent years, a new form of music was becoming popular in the United States. It was called minstrel music. Based on flamboyant and often insulting parodies of Southern lower class white and black culture, minstrel music began to become a popular phenomenon. Joel Walker Sweeney, who is credited with the invention of the five string banjo, performed and wrote many minstrel songs and traveled all over the country performing them. Sweeney and his group, the Virginia Minstrels, performed in blackface, which was a kind of performance where whites dressed up as blacks by rubbing burnt cork on themselves and performed cheerful songs with exaggerated accents. Not all minstrel musicians performed in blackface, but it was quite common. This form of music and performance grew to be extremely popular in the 1830's and 1840's.

In the meantime, Stephen was beginning to make a living on his own. He got a job as a bookkeeper in his brother's merchant firm. For his new job, Foster moved to Cincinatti, Ohio. It was in Cincinatti that Foster wrote "Oh! Susanna", one of his most famous songs. The year was 1847. The song was first performed at Andrew's Eagle Ice Cream Saloon in Pittsburgh. The song was almost an instant hit.

In the next six years, Foster published four more hit songs: Nelly Was a Lady, Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home, and My old Kentucky Home. Despite Foster's success, he felt that his songs were being misunderstood. Foster was different from many minstrel tune writers in that he did not intend to mock slaves in his songs. True, he did write several of his songs in the lyrical style of minstrel songs, but they were not intended to be mocking or hurtful. Foster even went so far as to describe other minstrel songs as "trashy and offensive." Nonetheless, Foster's songs were performed in minstrel shows all over the country.

Stephen moved to New York in 1860 with his wife Jane and their daughter Marion. By 1862, Foster's songwriting had begun to go downhill. The North and the South had split and his country was torn by war. Foster would not live to see the end of the war. He turned to alcoholism and died in Bellvue Hospital in New York City in 1864. Foster is still misunderstood to this day. It is a common belief that Foster was a Southerner. However, Foster only visited the deep South once and he spent most of his life living in Northern states. He advocated Northern political views and showed true compassion for the slaves, unlike many minstrel songwriters of his day.

That is what made Stephen Foster stand out. He wrote beloved and lasting songs, but all of them were tasteful. That is why Foster's songs have lasted so long. While other songs faded away when peoples' opinions changed, Foster's songs remained beloved favorites. That was his contrribution to American music.

Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/timeline/timeline2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Foster

Getting a Drum

We have all heard plenty about drummer boys and their instruments, but have you ever stopped to wonder where their drums came from? How did they get them? Who made them? The answer to these questions and more is quite interesting.

A section of a requisition for "snare strings & drum sticks" entered by Captain Frank Zentmeyer of the 34th Pa. infantry, Co. A

In his book, "Drum Taps in Dixie", Delavan S. Miller explains how he obtained his first drum. "It is with feelings of real tenderness that I write of my first drum. It was none of the common sort such as furnished by Uncle Sam, but was the best that money could buy, and was a gift from the officers at Fort Worth in the spring of 1862. A requisition for instruments was a long time in being filled, owing to the vast amount of red tape in use, so the officers at our fort presented me with a drum." Miller's quote is interesting because, in it, he establishes that there were two basic ways of getting a drum in the Union army. You either bought it or sent a requisition in for it and you were issued one.

Miller later says that he went to a store on Pennsylvania Avenue with one of his officers and picked out a drum. Stores like this were common in larger cities in both the North and the South. According to "A Pictoral History of Civil War Era Musical Instruments and Millitary Bands", by Robert Garofalo and Mark Elrod, there were three major centers of the drum manufacturing industry that were established before the Civil War in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Perhaps the largest concentration of drum-makers was in Philadelphia. One of the most famous of these was Horstmann Brothers, but others include C&F Soistmann and Ernst Vogt.

Most Confederate drummers seem to have obtained their drums in this manner as well. The Confederate army issued very little in the way of musical instruments, so musicians were forced to provide for themselves. Because of this, Confederate drums were greatly varied in pattern, size, and quality.

As for Union issue drums, there was a regulation in place for their painted design, but nothing in place to regulate anything else (such as dimensions), so that was all up to the contractor to figure out. Contractors tended to use the regulation as more of a guideline. Most regulation Federal drums bore an eagle emblazonment (many of which featured a painted banner in the design on which the owner of the drum could inscribe the name of his unit). Many of the same companies who made drums available in their stores were also Federal contractors, so the patterns of privately purchased drums and issued drums were often similar.

There was a horrendous amount of red tape in place before one could get a drum issued to him in the Federal army. First, a requisition had to be filed by an officer in one's company, sent to the quartermaster department (which took quite a while because the message had to be carried either in the army mail or by a courier). There, it had to be approved by the quartermaster department and the drum had to be ordered from a contractor, packaged, and taken to the regimental quartermaster via army supply wagon or train (a process which could be long and full of delays). The quartermaster would finally issue the drum to its recipient months after the requisition was placed. One can easily see how purchasing a drum at a shop would have been a much faster option than having one issued.

If a piece of the drum was broken or became no longer usable, the same process had to be completed, which would often take months.

The Basics of Authentic Drumsticks

Over the past few years, I have noticed some common errors, inauthenticities, and potential improvements that can be made by many musicians in the hobby. One such improvement that can be made is the quality of drumsticks.
Let's admit it: It just isn't easy to find a good pair of drumsticks. Most modern drumstics are too light or shaped incorrectly. Many drumsticks of the 1860's were tapered from end to end, unlike today's drumsticks, which are typically only tapered at the last 3 to 4 inches before the tip. To the contrary, a pair will often turn up that is tapered in the modern fashion. In almost every example of this style, the stick is abnormally fat at the base and has a very small tip. The larger, pseudo-modern-style sticks were typically used as "field sticks". That meant that they were generally carried in battle, in drill, and during camp duty. It seems that these were most commonly the kind of sticks used by regimental field musicians. Most band musicians carried finer "concert sticks". Concert sticks were generally lighter, thinner, and tapered from end to end. There is some evidence that many drummers (mostly in garrisons and perminent camps, not on campaign) carried two pairs of sticks; one for the field and one for dress parade and camp duty.

An original pair of dark wood sticks.

The vast majority of drumsticks in the 1860's were made out of dark wood such as cocobolo (a type of burled rosewood), ebony, or rosewood. Concert sticks were generally of finer quality than common field sticks. Some original examples of field sticks (see p. 51 of "Civil War Era Musical Instruments & Military Bands" by Garofalo and Elrod for a good picture of a collection of originals) appear extremely crude and primitive. Some field sticks were made of light colored, heavy woods such as maple.
It seems to be a common misconception that ALL period drumsticks had a series of small rings carved at the ends. Yes, rings were common, but only about two out of ten sticks had them. One thing that is almost never seen in the reenacting community is drumsticks with brass, bone, or ivory ornamentation on them (Yes, I understand that ivory is illegal, but bone isn't hard to get). Sticks with tips or ends of a different material (such as brass, bone, or ivory) were quite common.

A pair of reproduction sticks with carved rings. Unknown maker.

So, what is the solution for finding more correct drumsticks? If you are a skilled enough craftsman, you can make your own sticks. Also, Cooperman makes a good line of drumsticks but they are all light-colored wood. I use an original pair of concert sticks, which is a good option if you can find a pair in good condition.

Daily Life of a Drummer Boy

Just like all of the other soldiers, drummers and fifers ran on a regular schedule every day. Because of the structure of many modern events, you may not be able to live on a schedule exactly like the one they lived on but it is alwas good to try to stay on a regular schedule. Personally, I try to be as close to the actual schedule as possible. Here is an example of the musician's schedule as it would have been.

5:45 A.M.- First Call. Beaten 15 minutes before Reville as a signal for all musicians to assemble.

6:00 A.M.- Reville. Reville is the signal for all troops to get up and exit their tents. Reville is a series of
songs that are traditionally played as follows: Three Camps, Slow Scotch, Austrian, Hessian, Prussian, The Dutch, and Quick Scotch. Often, (especially in winter months) all tunes but Three Campsare
omitted. Sometimes played at 7:00. If so, the whole schedule gets shifted one hour later.

6:15 A.M.- Surgeon's Call. Usually not played at events. Signal for all sick or injured troops to report to
the surgeon.

7:00 A.M.- Breakfast Call. Usually not played at events. Signal for troops to adjourn to the companycook's
tent for breakfast. Only played when there is a cooks tent. If men are cooking within their
messes, there is no need for brakfast call.

8:00 A.M.- First Call and Second Call. Companies assemble for drill.

9:30 A.M.- First Call. Call for troops to assemble for drill.

9:45 A.M.- Second Call. Dress parade begins and troops form up by companies. Musicians play the Three
Cheers, Troop, The Three Cheers, and several selected quicksteps.

12:00 A.M.- Dinner Call. Usually not played at events. Call for troops to adjourn to the cook's tent for
their midday meal. Not played if troops are cooking by mess.

1:00 P.M.- Pioneer's Call. Fatigue companies police the parade ground. Pioneer's call is also played to
drum disorderly women out of camp.

1:45 P.M.- First Call. Signal for troops to assemble for drill.

2:00 P.M.- Second Call. Call for troops to assemble by company on the parade ground.

7:00 P.M.- Supper Call. Troops adjourn to the cook's tent. This call is usually not played at events.

Sunset- Retreat. Musicians assemble to beat The Three Cheers and then play Retreat.

9:00 P.M.- Tattoo. Tattoo is a series of tunes that is played as follows: Three Cheers, The Doublings,
New Tatter Jack, Slow March, Downfall of Paris, My Lodgings on the Cold Ground, Trust to Luck,
The Doublings, and a Quickstep. Tattoo can be shortened at the wish of the musicians or their
commanding officers. Signal for troops to go to bed or return from town.

10:30 P.M.- Taps. Usually played by a bugler. If not, it is composed of three distinct taps on the drum.
Signal for all lights to be extinguished.

(All images courtesy of www.harpweek.com)

Stripes or No Stripes?

There has been a controversy for a long time over musicians' stripes. Are they authentic? When are they appropriate? Why musicans' stripes? Here, I will try to set the record straight.

Musicians' stripes (also known as birdcage trim) are frequently seen in photographs of musicians from the Civil War. They run horizontally across the chest, level with each of the buttons on the coat or jacket.

If you own the Confederate Echoes of Glory book, please turn to page 234 and look at the photograph in the center of the page. It shows a Confederate frock coat with musicians' stripes on it. They are not in the style of "birdcage trim" with tape running up the sides of the stripes. Instead, they are "looped" around each button in an oval shape. Also note that the caption for the image states that the frock coat was from a drummer boy who was captured in 1862.

What does all of this tell us? Several things can be gathered from the information given on tis page. For one, the coat pictured there is an early war artifact because of the date that it was captured. Also, the boy who wore the coat was an average regimental drummer boy, not a member of any kind of band or drum corps.

I did a survey of perid photographs of field musicians, examining ten union ones and ten Confederate ones. Out of the ten Union photographs, I found that only two musicians wore stripes. Furthermore, the stripes only appeared on frock coats. Those with roundabouts or sack coats remained stripeless. Out of the ten Confederate photographs, I found that only one field musician had stripes. Those were on a frock coat.

Repeating this study with a different set of photographs, I found the result to be much the same. Union musicians had two who had stripes out of every ten and Confederate musicians had one who had stripes out of every ten.

From looking at the results from my survey and the frock coat from "Echoes of Glory", I can fairly determine that musicians stripes were not uncommon, but they were certainly not common. Judging from the information given with the photographs, most musicians' stripes dissappeared by the end of the war. The statistics would probably be dramatically less.

(Image courtesy of the Authentic Campaigner)

When I did a survey of band musicians, however, the statistics were vastly different. Out of ten Union bands, five of them had all of their musicians in musicians' stripes. Once again, all of the stripes appeared on frock coats. In Confederate bands, all ten of the bands surveyed were stripeless.

The book, "A Pictoral History of Civil War Era Musical Instruments and Millitary Bands" by Robert Garofalo and Mark Elrod is a great resource for band musicians. It shows a great number of photographs of musicians and even more of instruments. Much of my research on band music was done from this book.

From this research, it is safe to say that Union field musicians should have a good mix of stripes and no stripes. Confederate musicians in bands and in the field should stay away from stripes at all costs unless they appear on a frock coat. Musicians' stripes should never be put on anything other than a frock coat. Also, there should be more musicians stripes at early war events and as few as possible at late war events. If you are in a band, follow the band's regulations and you will be fine. Good Luck.