Research indicates 'Taps' story is a myth

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to "The Story of Taps" published in the McCook Daily Gazette on Nov. 11, 2004. Although that story tugs at the heart strings, I believe that story is false, a myth. That story is circulated on the Internet periodically, particularly around Memorial Day and Veterans Day. In 2001, I conducted extensive research into the story of taps, and I would like to share my findings with you.

Up until the Civil War, there was an infantry call for Lights Out that was set down in the manual Tactics, which had been borrowed from the French. The music for Taps was arranged by Union General Daniel Butterfield for his Brigade in July of 1862.

As the story goes, General Butterfield was not particularly pleased with the call for Lights Out, feeling that the call was too formal to signal the days end. With the help of his brigade bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, Butterfield reworked a bugle call named "Scott Tattoo" to create Taps which he wanted to be used to honor his men while in camp at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, near Richmond, following the Seven Day's battle. Those battles took place during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. The call, sounded that night for the first time in July 1862, soon spread to other units of the Union Army and was even used by the Confederates. Taps was made on official bugle call sometime after the war.

The next day several buglers from neighboring Brigades came and asked for copies of the music. Other Brigade commanders then exercised their own discretion, and the call was gradually taken up throughout the Army of the Potomac. Taps then made its way to the Western Armies by way of the 11th and 12th Corps, and rapidly spread through those Western Armies.

How did Taps become associated with funerals? During the Peninsular Campaign in 1862, a soldier of Battery A of the 2nd Artillery was buried at a time when the battery occupied an advanced position, concealed in the woods. Captain Tidball of the Battery felt that it was unsafe to fire the customary three volleys over the grave because of the nearness of the enemy.

The practice of firing three volleys over a grave originated in the old custom of halting the fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield. Once each side had finished removing their dead, they would fire three volleys to indicate that they were ready to return to the fight. Of course it is used now as a salute and a final farewell.

Captain Tidball was concerned that the firing of volleys might instigate further fighting, and it occurred to the Captain that the sounding of Taps would be the most appropriate ceremony that would be substituted. The bugler played Taps over that burial ceremony, the first time Taps was played at a burial. The custom was taken up throughout the Army of the Potomac, and it was finally confirmed by orders some years later, no doubt after the war.

This first sounding of Taps at a military funeral is commemorated in a stained glass window of The Chapel of the Centurion (The Old Post Chapel) at Fort Monroe, Va. The window, made by a man named R. Geissler of New York and based on a painting by a Sidney King, was dedicated in 1958 and shows a bugler and a flag at half staff. In that picture a drummer boy stands beside the bugler. The grandson of that drummer boy purchased Berkeley Plantation where Harrisons Landing is located.

The site where Taps was born is also commemorated, in this case, by a monument located on the grounds of that Berkeley Plantation. This monument to Taps was erected by the Virginia American Legion and dedicated on July 4, 1969. The site is also rich in history for the Harrisons of Berkeley Plantation included Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison - both presidents of the United States and one a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

As soon as Taps was first sounded that night in July 1862, words were put to the music. The first were "Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep." And as the years went by many more versions were created. However, there are no official words to the music.

We play Taps today to honor all veterans who gave their lives in defense of the country they loved.

I have the following response to the letter published in The McCook Gazette on Veterans Day. That article stated, in short, that a Captain Robert Ellicombe of the Union Army retrieved the body of his son, a Confederate, and found the notes of Taps on a piece of paper in his son's pockets. Taps was then played for the first time at the son's burial services.

That story has been circulating on the Web and the Internet. I believe that story is false, a myth. There is no evidence that such an incident occurred. Nor is there any evidence that a Captain Robert Ellicombe ever existed in the Union Army.

I base my conclusion on the information printed in numerous sites on the Web. One such site is http://www.usmemorialday.org. I would urge any reader to visit that Web site and read the information and visit the related links. Also I would urge any reader to visit http://www.west-point.org/taps/Taps.html and read the article "24 Notes That Tap Deep Emotions," written by MSG Jari A Villanueva, USAF.

If all of this information is digested, I believe any reader will see why I reached the conclusions above.

One final observation: Any person with a computer and access to the Internet can publish information on the Web, in chat rooms, on message boards, or their own web sites. I think that can be both misleading and dangerous. The fact that something is published on the Internet does not make that information factual. There are far too many people who love to publish this type of misinformation, either to try to justify their own personal opinions, to mislead the public, or just for the "halibut."

Sincerely,

William P. Hardwick

Historian

American Legion Post 65

Benkelman