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Music during the Civil War
Heather Weiss Music played a significant role in Illinois during the Civil War. Nearly every regiment had a drum and bugle corps that was widely appreciated. Some regiments also had fifes (piccolos), and a few had brass bands. At the beginning of the Civil War, brass bands played at recruitment rallies, troop farewells, and in almost every campaign. Also, it has been estimated, in the first year of the war one soldier in forty was a musician. The war increased opportunities for military bandsmen. The 47th Illinois Regiment's band awoke the soldiers in the morning, with their reveille, and sent them to bed at night with taps. (The 47th trained at Camp Mather in Peoria.) The band was busy all day long with different "calls" that the buglers sounded out and the drummers tapped out. In the summer the day started with reveille at five in the morning— six during the winter. Then, thirty minutes later was the breakfast call, which was "Peas on a Trencher." Next came a sick call for the ailing. At eight o'clock they sounded a call for guard mounting. While the sergeant major inspected the soldiers and turned out his detail for the next twenty-four-hour's duty, the band or drum and fife corps played appropriate music. Then came the call for drill, which lasted until the notes of the dinner call, "roast beet." The dress parade was also accompanied by music. The last call of the day was taps at sundown. Probably the music that was most enjoyed was made by the soldiers' own voices. They often sang when they marched, when they were in the trenches, when they were in the guardhouse, and when they were on the battlefield. The urge to sing was so great that men had to be reprimanded for lifting their voices and giving away their positions while guarding the outposts. They sang to combat homesickness, to raise drooping spirits, to ease boredom, and to forget their weariness. The more difficult the times, the more they sang. The band of the 47th Illinois Regiment was a fighting band. They played "Jaybird, Jaybird" when the last mile seemed too long. The musicians would pile their drums with the baggage and trot in open formation close to the firing line with extra canteens, ready stretchers, and emergency bandages. In time of battle, the Drum Corps was the surgeon's assistant, bringing the wounded from the field and aiding in their care. In doing this they were in the most exposed part of the field. One of the soldiers from the 33rd Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry, B. J. Wakeman, said that their "courage was equal to, if not greater than, that displayed by the soldier on the ranks." They also had many "last messages" left with them, which they always tried to deliver. The musicians made the last few moments of the dying as comfortable as possible. The war gave birth to hundreds of songs that reflect the ideas and principles of the opposing sides. The Confederate states produced considerably less music than the Union. Since most songs did overcome the barriers of sectionalism and loyalty, they became popular with both sides. The war brought similar hardships to the opposing sides. Whether from the North or the South, soldiers felt pain, hunger, fear, and loneliness. In Hazel Arnett's book, I Hear America Singing, she wrote that sometimes enemies nevertheless sang "Tenting Tonight": We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground, War songs are usually the expression of emotion that is related to the times. The basic sentiments of people in conflict are often the same as in times of peace—love of family and friends and security of the family group and the nation. Emotions during the war were intensified. This was shown in the content of songs that people sang both individually and collectively. Often soldiers also took familiar melodies such as "Pop Goes the Weasel," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," and "Yankee Doodle," and put their own words to them. Even when soldiers were thinking about the dangers of war, they could not always remain serious. They loved to keep things light by singing nonsense songs and improvising parodies. The following parody on "Dixie" was heard by an Illinois soldier:
I wish I was in St. Law County One of the forms of music that became more widely diffused during the Civil War was black folk music. With the outbreak of the war many Northerners were brought into contact with slaves. Often the slaves would sing a style of music that was called Contraband. During this they would all get together and sing with no discord or confusion. These hymns were long, dismal, and in a minor key. An example of black folk music is, "Go Down, Moses":
Go down to Egypt—Tell Pharaoh The slaves prayed that the god who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt, Jonah out of the whale, and Daniel out of the den would bring them out of slavery. In addition to the musicians who belonged to the regiments, Illinois also had composers during the Civil War. "The Soldiers Farewell" was written by Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas C. Buswell of the 93rd
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry and published in the Bureau County Patriot at Princeton, Illinois:
Friends, farewell, we now must sever,
Illinois musicians were involved in many ways in the war. They played in the regiment bands while marching along with the soldiers, accompanied the singing of familiar songs, musically signaled events of each day, and served as the surgeon's assistant. Slaves also had a very large impact on music, and their styles are widely used today. Even at Lincoln's funeral, Illinois musicians played a prominent role. The 146th Illinois Volunteer Regiment, under the leadership of Captain Wilber F. Heath, played a song that he composed when he heard of the death of President Lincoln. From the singing of silly songs to the death of a president, Illinois musicians were an important part of the Civil War.—[Hazel Arnett, I Hear America Singing; Kenneth A. Bernard, Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War; Robert J. Burdette, The Drums of the 47th; Aaron Dunbar, History of the 93rd Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry; Isaac H. Elliott, History of the 33rd Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry; Dena J. Epstein, Sinful Tunes and Spirituals; Robert M. Hazen, The Music Men; Willard A. Heaps and Porter W. Heaps, The Singing Sixties; Carl Landrum, Quincy; Bell Irvin Wiley, Common Soldier in the Civil War.]
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