Although they existed in the colonies since about the 1750s and were
used greatly in the French and Indian War, it was the American Revolution that
popularized fifes the most in the colonies.  Upon the outset of war, many people
learned the fife for the use in militias or the Continental Army.  However, after
the war, there was no longer as much of a need for all of these musicians.  On June
8, 1783, General Washington wrote to Henry Knox, saying that "...they [the
musicians] should take with them their Drums and Fifes...."

	In July 1797, an Act of Congress attached three fifers and drummers to the
Marines on board the frigates United States, Constellation, and  Constitution.
One year later, the United States Marine Band was established, consisting of 32
fifers and drummers.  Within the next decade, fifes and drums began to become a
regular part of the military.  During those years, the academy at West Point was
established (1802), where fifers and drummers had regular duties until 1815, and
an army school of music was established in New York Harbor on Governor's
Island (1809).  This school of music was primarily for boys ranging from about
12 to 19 who entered the army as musicians.  At this school, not only did the
instructors teach the boys music and how to play their instruments but also how
to be soldiers.

	Beginning in the late 18th Century onwards, a new military idea began to
run through the minds of the commanding officers during battle.  Fifes, drums
and bugles (the field music) were used for communication and a morale booster.
To have better success at winning a battle, the enemy communication has to be
destroyed and the enemy soldiers must not have a morale booster.  This indirectly
means to target the musicians.  James A. Browne writes in an account of the
Peninsular War at the Battle of Talavera (July 1809), "two bands were entrenched
in a ravine..., and with stirring music, goaded on their comrades, until at length
the French, realizing that the bandsmen were filling their opponents with
dauntless courage, directed their fire on the ravine in the hope of destroying the
musicians."

	In 1812, war once again broke out in the United States and again a little
over three decades later in the Mexican War.  These wars, however, had little
impact on fifes and drums.  If anything, they proved to the military that the
instruments were still very useful.

	It was the Civil War, however, that brought about the most changes.  War
in general is a time when militaries make the most changes.  Although the trumpet
was another ancient instrument and used by armies almost as long as the drum, the
bugle as we know it didn't really become popular until the 19th Century.  But
because of the amount of noise that was present on the battlefield, many times the
beats of the drum and the notes on the fife were almost impossible to hear.  For
that reason, the bugle was perfect, as it could be heard at a much greater distance
than either the fife or the drum.  As a result, the fifes and drums began to lose
their popularity on the battlefield, and as the war went on, many fifers and
drummers abandoned their battlefield duties to help the hospitals.  Harry Kieffer,
a drummer who served with the 150th Pa Vounteers from 1862 through the end of
the war, wrote in his book The Recollections of a Drummer Boy that "our
colonel had long given us orders: 'You drummer-boys, in time of an engagement,
are to lay aside your drums and take stretchers and help off the wounded.'"  

	The bugle, however, did not end the duties in camp.  According to Kieffer,
he was to "beat reveille at daybreak, retreat at sundown, tattoo at nine p.m., and
lights out a half-hour later."  He commented later in the book that reveille was
often around five o'clock in the morning.  Popular tunes of the time were Dixie
(which was written prior to the war in 1859 by Daniel Emmett, a Northerner), Glory
Hallelujiah, Old Dan Tucker, the Bonnie Blue Flag, and tons more.  Other tunes,
such as Yankee Doodle and The Girl I Left Behind Me, were still just as popular
then as they were decades earlier.  However, despite the continued use of fifers
and drummers in camp, in 1864, Congress banned the enlistment of anyone under
sixteen.  From this point forward, the only boy musicians seen in the ranks were
those who were already enlisted.



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