Because of their responsibilities musicians were relatively mature, in the Continental Army on average 18.5 years (average age for drummers was 19 years, for fifers 17). Youthful musicians were sometimes kept out of harm’s way. Drummer James Holmes, 11th Pennsylvania Regiment, 13 years old when he joined in 1778, stated he was not in Any engagements not being permitted by his Captain, [and] on account of his Youth was generally ordered to the rear ... Younger and smaller musicians were more likely to play the fife, with some fifers changing to the drum as they matured. In 1782 Congress decided to take new musicians from the ranks, causing some difficulty, as a 10th Massachusetts officer testified, “we want three Drummers and two Fifers but at present can find but one Fifer and two Drummers who have natural Geniuses for music … they are men of small stature and I believe will answer the purpose ... Musicians sometimes experienced duty-related hardships. Revolutionary fifer Samuel Dewees also served in the 1799 Fries Rebellion. Sent to recruit troops, in Northampton, Pennsylvania he stayed two or three days ... I had played the fife so much at this place, I began to spit blood ... By the aid of the Doctors medicine and the kind nursing treatment ... I was restored to health again in a few days and able to play the fife as usual. Fifer Swain Parsel, 3rd New Jersey Regiment, had a similar experience. He enlisted in the beginning of [1776] ... as a fifer for one year ...” Reenlisting in the same regiment, “the practice of fifing being injurious to his health, he entered the ranks as a private soldier ... Prospective pensioner John McElroy, 11th Pennsylvania, had a unique story to tell, stating in his pension deposition, As to my ocupation I have none being nearly blind by reason of my eyes being nearly destroyed by the accidental bursting of cartriges in the year 1779 at Sunbury Pennsylvania ... Despite his injury McElroy was appointed fife major in 1780. John McElroy and Aaron Thompson, 3rd New Jersey, both retained mementos of their military service well after the war. The former wrote in 1820 that I have my old Fife and knapsack yet, while a friend of Thompson noted after his death he had heard him [Thompson], often say so, and mention, the fact of his, having mutilated his fife in order to prevent its being stolen and that he might preserve it, as a relic, of his services in that Struggle. `The musicians belonging to the whole army: An Abbreviated Study of the Ages of Musicians in the Continental Army, The Brigade Dispatch, two parts: vol. XXIV, no. 4 (Autumn 1993), 2-8; vol. XXV, no. 1 (Winter 1994), 2-12. Abridged version of this article published in Percussive Notes, Journal of the Percussive Arts Society (August 2005), 64-66. revwar75/library/rees/musician1.htm and revwar75/library/rees/musician2.htm Image: Drummer of Lt. Charles Willson Peales company, 2d Battalion Philadelphia Associators
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 05:02:45 +0000
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