Marching to the Drums

A History of Military Drums and Drummers

John Norris

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780752468792
• eBook ISBN: 9780752483634
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Military drummers have played a crucial role in warfare throughout history. Soldiers marched to battle to the sound of the drums and used the beat to regulate the loading and re-loading of their weapons during the battle. Drummers were also used to raise morale during the fight. This is the first work to chart the rise of drums in military use and how they came to be used on the battlefield as a means of signalling. This use was to last for almost 4, 000 years when modern warfare with communications rendered them obsolete. Even so, drummers continued to serve in the armies of the world and performed many acts of heroism as the served as stretcher bearers to rescue the wounded from the battlefield. From ancient China, Egypt and the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan the drum was used on the battlefield. The 12th century Crusaders helped re-introduce the drum to Europe and during the Napoleonic Wars of the 18th and 19th centuries the drum was to be heard resonating across Europe. Drummers had to flog their comrades and beat their drums on drill parade. Today they are ceremonial but this work tells how they had to face enemies across the battlefield with only their drum.

THE CORPS OF DRUMS IS ESTABLISHED

Military forces have enjoyed a long-standing association with music which goes back many centuries. Indeed, it is well documented that armies in ancient Greece and Rome marched into battle to the accompaniment of trumpets and horns. In ancient Egypt the armies of the Pharaohs marched to the sound of horns, cymbals and sometime drums, and it was, therefore, only natural that military forces should maintain this tradition with troops sometimes singing to the most popular tunes. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, many more European countries were incorporating drums and fifes into the ranks of the army, and those which already had units with drums were expanding the numbers of these instruments as their importance became more understood. This now extended from passing signals on the battlefield to keeping the army marching in step and at a steady rhythm. France was one of those countries to be influenced by trends and absorbed drums into the army through contact with Swiss mercenaries, with their drums and fifes employed in French pay. The Swiss Guard which had been formed in 1616 had its own regular corps of drums and it was only natural that over time such a formation should spread to other French regiments.

As armies increased in size and campaigns extended to cover more ground and for longer periods of time, so the function of music to maintain morale became more important. By the sixteenth century the first regular or standing armies were being created in Europe, and also in Russia where Tsar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) established a regular army during his reign from 1547 to 1584. England, however, would not have a professionally trained standing force comparable to the likes of France until the New Model Army was created in 1645, based on the ideas of Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War. Sweden had a standing army in 1618 at the time of the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War and this establishment served as the template for other European states who based their armies on the ‘Swedish model’. Also, by 1617 the first true military academy, the Schola Militaris, had been established by John of Nassau in his native Germany.

Later military commanders, such as Maurice de Saxe in the eighteenth century, would continue to advocate the use of music, and drums in particular, to stimulate the troops’ morale in battle. This was a tactic he understood well and realised that something as simple as the music of fifes and drums could encourage troops to move forward, rather than follow their basic instinct to move back, away from danger. Drums especially were considered excellent for this and special corps of drums and fifes would come to be established among armies for this very purpose. It was a purely psychological stimulus and it worked in nearly every case. This idea was nothing new, and accounts dating back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in India record that the practice had actually existed some 500 years before the time of Maurice de Saxe. Even during the Crusades, the Ayyubid manual had recommended that music and drums be played during battle to encourage morale among the troops, whilst at the same time undermining the enemy’s confidence.

In August 1762 it was suggested to King Louis XV by the Duc de Biron, a lineage of the Baron de Biron which had continued to succeed to the title, that permanent military bands should be established for the French Regiment of Guard. At the time, the regiment already had a group of musicians comprising two bassoons and two horns, along with four hautbois (oboes). The Duc de Biron advised the king to increase these to four hautbois and four each of the clarinet, horn and bassoon, and were to be paid for either by the colonel of the regiment or by contributions from the officers of the regiment. The idea was adopted and meant that one of the first proper military bands, as opposed to just fifes and drums for marching or signalling, was established in a similar type of formation already serving with the Swiss Guard.

Companies of infantry had had drummers and fife players attached to them since the sixteenth century and it was their role to lead the unit when marching. However, besides this and the role of signalling on the battlefield, the drummer also had other duties accorded to him, one of which was during a parley, where he was expected to walk forward with his commander to discuss terms of conduct on the battlefield, such as agreeing on a surrender or armistice and treatment of the wounded and prisoners. Drummers took their place standing in the ranks of troops on the battlefield, although it was widely understood that they held non-combatant status and that they should not be harmed. This was a great improvement from 300 years earlier when drummers had been deliberately targeted for particular attention and were killed to prevent them from signalling. However, it was inevitable that some drummers would be killed or wounded in the general mêlée of battle. As armies increased in size, so fife players and drummers were organised at battalion level and established as a distinct corps of drums. This tradition is still maintained today and corps of drums are found within regimental formations across Europe and around the world, even in places like South America.

The rank of drummer came to be recognised as an official title of his status and today is still recognised to distinguish him in the same way that private, corporal or musician is used. In charge of the corps of drums was the drum-major, sometimes known as drummer major, and in the case of the British army the corps of drums answers directly to the battalion adjutant. Around 1690 the rank of drum-major-general was created in the English army, as it was known at the time, and this rank was given official status by royal warrant in 1702. However, it was a short-lived title, probably being unique to the English army, and understood to have been abandoned late in the eighteenth century. It was certainly still being used around 1786 when Drum-Major Grose wrote his work ‘Military Antiquities’ in which he refers to the rank of drum-major-general. According to him the rank was the equivalent to the commission of a subaltern officer and he was placed in charge of granting licences to drummers. It was noted that a drum-major’s uniform should, ‘… never be object [and] that he is too great a coxcomb such an appearance is rather to be encouraged, provided it does not exceed the bounds of proper respect to his superiors: his dress and appointments should all tend to promote that character as it is absolutely necessary for him to strut, and think himself a man of consequence when marching at the head of the Drummers’. The drum-major marched at the head of the corps of drums, carrying the symbol of his rank which was, and still remains to this day, the mace or staff. Drill movements developed over time to govern the movement of the corps of drums, including the direction they were to march and when to stop playing and halt. The creation of the rank of drum-major may have come about as a result of the drummers themselves and the belief in their own superiority. In the work ‘The History of Military Music in England’, the author by the name of Farmer believed that the first master drummer, called Robert Bruer, was appointed to the rank as early as 1591 and would later become the rank of drum-major.

At the time that Drum-Major Grose was serving in England, his opposite number was serving in France and his career as musician is very different. In 1791 Michel Gesture was listed as a musician in the Paris National Guard at the time when France was being torn apart by the Revolution in 1789. Gesture had joined the Swiss Guard as a musician when he was just 14 years old and would manage to survive the turbulent troubles of the Revolution Wars between 1792 and 1801, going on to serve as bandmaster in the army of the Revolution and continuing this service during the period of Napoleon Bonaparte. He escaped the fury of the ‘Revolutionary mob’ when they stormed the Tuileries on 10 August 1792 because he was not present at the time of the attack. A group of twelve musicians were lucky to escape death because they were billeted at Courbevoie, but the drummers and fife players of the Royal army were killed by the rioters who overwhelmed the troops by their weight of numbers. Other musicians of the Royal army were far luckier, being spared the same fate when they were imprisoned in the Palais Bourbon and later released when the initial anger of the crowds had abated. When King Louis XVI was being taken to his execution on 20 January 1793, the procession was accompanied by a group of drummers who beat loudly so as to drown out any words of support for the condemned monarch. These drummers would have at one time beaten the signals for the king’s army and now they were alerting the crowds that the king was being taken to the guillotine.

In 1754 an order was issued which made it obligatory for all regiments in France to have a corps of drums. The rank or position of drum-major had been established by a similar order in June 1745 and replaced the title of ‘chief drummer’, which had been established in November 1651. One of the earliest men to be listed in 1769 as a drum-major serving in the French army was called Cholet, whose son was also listed as being a junior drum-major. The rank of drum-major was already in use in the English army in the seventeenth century, which shows that the French were slightly behind in regulating the rank structure among the corps of drums. However, the French would develop a fascination with drums almost to the point of obsession, and over the years the numbers of drums within the ranks of the military would increase so that by 1789 the band of the National Guard, which had been formed that year by Bernard Sarrette, would have the usual numbers of kettledrums and other drums, but these would be joined by up to 300 other drummers for special occasions.

In the seventeenth century we learn that French drum-majors were being paid around the rate of 600 livres (100 years later the rate of pay for the drum-major was around 800 livres, with 1 livre being equal to 1 franc in the old French currency, meaning an annual salary of approximately £3,200 by modern rates). The Swiss Guard also found itself elevated in status when given duties to guard the Louvre, which had at one time been a fortress, as a royal residence and then used to display the French king’s art collection in the second half of the seventeenth century. These duties were later extended when the role of the Swiss Guard included protecting the interior of the building. This was a long way from the early days when mercenary troops such as the Swiss had been viewed with suspicion when it came to a loyalty, but were now given a privileged position. The drums in use at this time measured around 42in in height and had a diameter of 37in. The shells of French drums at this time were usually wooden, but some were also beginning to be made from brass sheet and weighed almost 8lbs. An example known to have been captured at the Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704 was made from metal and decorated with the French Royal coat of arms and carried the title ‘Regiment de Marine’. At this engagement the Allied forces of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy, numbering some 52,000 men, faced a combined Franco-Bavarian force of 56,000 men, commanded by Marshals Tallard and Marsin and the Elector of Bavaria. Drummers and musicians were caught up in the conflagration and one of the popular English tunes at the time was the march known as ‘Lillibullero’ (subject to many versions over the centuries), which would have been heard as the troops went into battle. Other tunes being composed for specific marches around this time included tempos and drum rolls, such as the one for the Swiss Guard which occasionally marched to the slow rhythm of a composition called ‘La Marche de Colin-Tampon’, still in use today with the French Foreign Legion.

The Duke of Marlborough defeated the Franco-Bavarian army, capturing 16,000 prisoners in the process and seizing amounts of equipment, including weaponry and musical instruments. The victory also gave one of the first battle honours in the history of the army to three of the regiments present at the engagement. The first was Douglas’s Regiment, which had been raised in 1688 and became known as the 16th Regiment of Foot, before later being known as the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. The second regiment to receive the Blenheim battle honour was Meredith’s Regiment, which had been raised in 1702. This regiment would become the 37th Regiment Foot and then the Royal Hampshire Regiment. Last was the Princess Anne of Denmark’s Regiment, which had been raised in 1685. This regiment would become the 8th Regiment of Foot and then the King’s Regiment (Liverpool). Battle honours are usually embroidered on the Regimental Colours, but some of the more memorable battles are recorded on the drums of the corps of drums and the regimental band, and these take pride of place during parades. Drum-Major Grose records how drums during the reign of King George II (1727–1760) were ordered to be made from wood. Grose does say that metal drums were made, probably copied from designs favoured in either France or the Germanic states. He also mentions that the emblems on the drums, formed from the motifs of the colonels of the different regiments, were to be replaced by the royal coat of arms, along with Regimental Colours and facings.

In his work ‘Traite des Armes’, published in 1678, author Louis de Gaya describes side drums of the period, which at some point in the seventeenth century were being fitted with a device called a ‘snare’, a system of fine cords stretched across the lower skin of the drum to increase its resonant sound. Today the snare is made from fine wires and can be adjusted for tension. Gaya describes French drums as: ‘Les Tambours sont fait de bois de Chasteigner creux et couverts par les deux costery de peau de veau…’ This tells us the shell of the drum was made from chestnut wood and covered in calfskin. He continues by writing ‘… avec un timbre qui est par dessous’. This description tells us that snares (timbres) were fitted under the drum. It has been suggested that the term ‘side drum’ is derived from the fact that it is carried on the side, which does seem to make sense.

Gaya’s book is well illustrated and shows a range of musical instruments, including cornets, fife, hautbois and trumpets. He illustrates the tambour (drum), but also something he refers to as timbales, which are better known as nakers or kettledrums. He explains that they entered Europe through the Balkans and Hungary, and describes them as: ‘… deux vaisseaux d’arain, ronds par dessous, don’t les ouvertures sont couvertes de peau de Bouc, qu’on fait resonner enbattant dessus avec des baguettes.’ This describes the drum as round vessels covered in goat skin and beaten with sticks. The French apparently did not take to these new forms of drums immediately and Gaya writes that King Louis XIV ordered them to be used as part of the equipment of the ordanance companies, before which time the French army only used those kettledrums which had been captured in battle. Kettledrums had been known about earlier and were certainly being recorded in paintings by artists such as Domenico Ricci, who showed one in his work in Verona, Italy, around 1530. King Ladislaus of Hungary in 1457 is also recorded as having drum horses mounting kettledrums for special parades.

Among the other duties assigned to drummers was the designating of billets to the troops who had to be quartered, and even the delivery of letters and other written messages. This last duty, because of its importance, would probably have been performed by the drum-major himself rather than a drummer, even though his integrity would never be in any doubt. Thomas Simes confirms this when he noted in 1778 that the drum-major had to ‘… carry the letters to, and bring them from the Post Office…’ In England during the reign of King William III (1689–1702), troops could be billeted in inns, barns and stables and ‘… all houses selling brandy and strong waters…’, although troops could not be billeted in private dwellings with civilians. Drummers were instructed to sweep and clean the officers’ billets, presumably because of their trustworthiness as opposed to the ordinary soldier who, despite the consequences, might be tempted to steal something of value. The combination of troops and alcohol was always going to be a volatile mixture and knowingly putting troops into establishments which sold liquor was bound to lead to trouble. The drummer who put troops in such establishments would be popular, but this would soon disappear when the troops became drunk and committed crimes, such as theft or even desertion, which warranted punishment by flogging and had to be administered by the drummer.

Flogging was an unsavoury and unpopular duty for the drummer, but one that had to be conducted according to military law. Thomas Simes notes in 1778 how during the convening of a courts martial, a drum-major had to be prepared to conduct a flogging by having his ‘apparatus for punishing…’ In an effort to curb any drunken behaviour which could lead to punishment, some armies began sending out the drummers to beat a signal to the taverns and inns to stop serving alcohol and for the troops to return to their billets. The Dutch used the term doe ten tap toe for this signal to tell the innkeepers to turn off the taps of the beer and wine barrels. Over time this expression became corrupted and anglicised to ‘Tattoo’, which today has a very different meaning and is used to indicate a ceremonial military parade involving a display by massed bands, such as that held at Edinburgh in Scotland.

Military justice in all armies was, and still is to this day, dispensed following special tribunal known as a courts martial. Sometimes the singular form of this term is used as a verb to describe a soldier as having been ‘court-martialled for fighting or theft’. It still denotes that it was a military court which heard the case and passed sentence in accordance with the military rules and regulations of the country. In the seventeenth century it was usually the case that officers would convene a form of committee to hear the case against a soldier and then to pass sentence. During the English Civil War, both the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies passed similar sentences on those found guilty of a crime. For example, officers were cashiered, which is to say their services were dispensed with, and blaspheming was punished by having a hole bored through the tongue with a hot iron.

In European armies, and even in England, far harsher sentences could be passed. For example, in the English army the ‘Articles of War’ first published in 1642 listed twenty-five offences which carried the death penalty, including mutiny, sedition, murder and rape ‘… whether she belong to the Enemy or not…’ By comparison, in 1689 there were more than fifty crimes which carried the death penalty for offenders. The death penalty was also passed on those soldiers who offered violence ‘… to any who shall bring victuals to the Camp of Garrison, or shall take his Horse or Goods…’ For fighting among themselves troops could be sentenced to ‘ride the mare’. This punishment was in widespread use and known by various names among the European armies. The prisoner sentenced to this punishment had to sit astride two wooden planks formed together at an angle of around 45 degrees, so that the sharp edge dug into his soft groin area. As if the pain from his own weight was not enough, his agony was added to by having weights, usually service muskets, attached to his ankles to force him down onto the sharp angle of the boards. This punishment could last for several hours and be repeated as many times as judged to be necessary to fit the crime. Drummers would sometimes be required to erect this device and although they were meant to be beyond reproach due to their status, drummers could find themselves subjected to such punishment should they transgress the military code, including being flogged and no doubt also ‘riding the wooden mare’ which they themselves ha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction
• Echoes from the Past
• In the Beginning
• The Spread of the Military Drum
• Drummers in the Seventeenth Century
• Marching and Drill
• The Corps of Drums is Established
• The Rise of the Regiments
• The Napoleonic Period
• After Napoleon
• The American Civil War
• Into a New Era
• Drums Go to Sea
• Drums in the World Wars
• Regimental Customs and Battle Honours
• Bibliography
• Plates
• Copyright