“The music of the Army…”

The Roles and Duties of Military Musicians, plus,

a Study of the Ages of Drummers and Fifers in the Continental Army

 

John U. Rees

 

Originally published in The Brigade Dispatch, in 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.

Capt. Charles Willson Peale’s company, 2nd Battalion Philadelphia Associators, Princeton battlefield. Fifers and drummers in this unit wore reversed colors, as evidenced in this deserter advertisement: “Philadelphia, April. 13, 1776 … Ran away from the subscriber, on the evening of the fifth instant, an English servant boy, named JOHN MITFORD, about fifteen years of age … He had on, when he went away, a scarlet coatee with white metal buttons, and brown collar, such as fifers of the Philadelphia second battalion commonly wear …“ Pennsylvania

Evening Post, 13 April 1776. (Aaron Walker, fifer; Daryian Kelton, drummer)

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Also of interest:

“Middle-brook Order, June 4, 1777: What It Really Says about the Quality of Revolutionary War Field Music” (6 September 2012), https://historyoftheancients.wordpress.com/tag/therevolutionary-war/

“Each morning we… had to play and beat the Reveille”

An Overview of Military Music.

Military music was essential to the Revolutionary armies, contributing greatly to discipline and order both in camp and on the battlefield. Specialized drum and fife signals called musicians or officers to assemble and detachments to gather wood, or informed the men when it was time to receive rations. Music provided a cadence to regulate the marching rate, and transmitted or supplemented officers’ commands in battle.

General George Washington early on recognized the value of well-trained musicians, as emphasized in 4 June 1777 general orders: “The music of the army being in general very bad; it is expected, that the drum and fife Majors exert themselves to improve it … Nothing is more agreeable, and ornamental, than good music; every officer, for the credit of his corps, should take care to provide it.” He then outlined the musically regulated daily routine. “The revellie to be beaten at day-break — the troop at 8 o’clock in the morning, and retreat at sunset.” Two days later, “The morning gun at day-break to be a signal for the revellie ; and the evening gun at sun-set a signal for the retreat …” To these calls can be added the end of day “taptoo,” when “All lights must be put out at 9 o’Clock in the evening, and every man to his tent.”

The routine was altered for an army on the move, General Washington giving details on 16 August 1777,

 

1st. When the army is to march, the General (and not the Revellie) is to beat in the morning.

2nd. At the beating of the General, the officers and soldiers are to dress and prepare themselves for the march, packing up and loading their baggage.

3rd. At the beating of the troop, they are to strike all their tents and put them in the wagons …

4th. … at least a quarter of an hour before the time appointed for marching, the drummers are to beat a march, upon which the troops are to march out and form at the head of their encampment … Precisely at the hour appointed for marching, the drummers beat the march a second time, at that part of the line from which the march is to be made … upon which the troops face or wheel … and instantly begin the march.

 

Further orders, tinged with criticism, were issued for the march through Philadelphia later the same month: “The drums and fifes of each brigade are to be collected in the center of it; and a tune for the quick step played, but with such moderation, that the men may step to it with ease; and without dancing along, or totally disregarding the music, as too often has been the case.” Whatever the musical quality, the daily schedule often changed to fit situational needs.

 

 

 

An example of massed during the War of the Revolution. This engraving commemorates an event at the 1781 Coxheath encampment, when the British 6th Regiment of Foot drummed T. Lamb, Esquire, the mayor of Rye, out of camp. 

Gregory J.W. Urwin, Redcoat Images, No. 816, “A VISIT TO CAMP or the ROGUES

M_ARCH,” circa 1781 (unknown artist), Gerry Embleton Collection

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Several works have discussed battlefield drum signals, most notably Raoul Camus’s Military Music of the American Revolution, but there is much yet to be learned on their practical use. William Windham’s Plan of Discipline for the use of the Norfolk Militia … (London: 1768) provided twenty drum commands for everything from “Fix bayonets, marching” to “Form Battalion!” Other manuals followed suit. In actuality, battle and maneuver signals varied. During Maj. Gen. John Sullivan’s expedition against the Iroquois in 1779, orders for 4 August stipulated signals for marching in files, advancing by sections and platoons, closing columns, and displaying into line. By comparison, Major General Friedrich Wilhelm de Steuben’s 1779 Regulations gives only three different signals for marching forces: for the “Front to halt”, “the Front to advance quicker”, and “to march slower.” In 1780 British Captain John Peebles, 42^nd Regiment, noted the “General Rules for Manouvring the Batt[alio]n. by the Commanding Officer,” appended to which are “Signals by Drum”:

 

 

 

 

 

Preparative.                    to begin firing by Companies, which is to go on as fast       as each is loaded till the first part of the General when        not a shot more is ever to be fired.

 

Grenad[ie]rs. March.      to advance in Line.

 

Point of War.	to Charge.
To Arms.	to form the Batt[alio]n. (whether advancing or Retreating in Column) upon the leading division.
Double flam.	to halt  Upon the word forward, in forming, the   Divisions to run up in Order.

 

Another instrument, the bugle horn (also called the French, hunting, or German posthorn) was commonly used by light and mounted troops, and especially associated with the British light infantry. Massachusetts Lieutenant Joseph Hodgekins wrote of the 16 September 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights, “the Enemy Halted Back of an hill and Blood [blowed] a french Horn which whas for a Reinforcement …” Xavier della Gatta’s 1782 painting “The Battle of Germantown” shows a horn-blowing musician at the head of two files of British light infantry, and the song “A Soldier” (New York, 1778) begins with the lines:

 

Hark! hark! the bugle’s lofty sound

Which makes the woods and rocks around     Repeat the martial strain,

Proclaims the light-arm’d British troops …

 

It is uncertain when American light troops first used horns, but during the June 1778

Monmouth campaign New York Lieutenant Bernardus Swartwout noted,

 

• June] The Horn blowed (a substitute for a drum in the [light] Infantry corps) we marched about four miles …
• June] At the sound of the horn we marched eight miles and halted …

 

Bands of music, playing orchestral instruments, were also present with some units, serving a largely ornamental purpose. Most British regiments had their own bands at one time or another, several surrendering at Saratoga and Yorktown. Only a few Continental units followed suit, most notably the 3^rd and 4^th Artillery, 2^nd Virginia, and Webb’s Additional Regiments.

Proficient field musicians (drummers, fifers, and, for light troops and cavalry, buglers) were hard to find, as they were expected to learn many tunes, from popular melodies like

“Roslyn Castle” to practical beats such as “Water Call” or “Roast Beef.”

Recognizing their special duties, efforts were made to provide musicians regimental coats with reversed colors based on European practice. In May 1777 the Continental

Clothier General informed 3^rd New Jersey Colonel Elias Dayton “there is 395 Blue coats faced red on the road from Boston … which I design to furnish your regmt. … I have also … sent you 12 Red Coats fac’d with blue of the clothing taken from the enemy for your drums & fifes.” This variation was not always possible, as some units wore un-dyed linen hunting shirts, while in autumn 1778 Washington’s army was issued French-made coats of blue or brown with red facings, with no distinction for musicians.¹

The musicians of the Continental Army have long been relegated to a minor role in comparison to those soldiers who carried muskets or commanded troops in battle. In actuality the duties they performed were essential to the army and contributed greatly to discipline and order both in camp and on the battlefield. The original purpose of this study was to gain some knowledge of, and if possible ascertain a trend in, the ages of those soldiers who served as musicians. During the course of the research personal accounts by the soldiers themselves were gathered which give some further understanding of the daily lives, duties and role of musicians in the army. These soldiers’ narratives have been appended to the study.

 

 

Fifer Nathalie Smallidge, Fort Ticonderoga.

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Drummer Aaron Walker (on the right), Monmouth battlefield. 

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“On account of his Youth was generally ordered to the rear…” Drummer and Fifer Ages.

In addition to the oft-misunderstood nature of the role of musicians in the Continental Army certain myths about these soldiers have been propagated. Probably the most familiar portrayal of revolutionary musicians is the nineteenth century painting “The Spirit of ’76” by Archibald M. Willard. Although two older men playing both fife and drum are shown in this rendering it is probably the image of the adolescent drummer that has lodged in the minds of most people. Additionally, the use of boys as musicians during the American Civil War and such popular songs as “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” only served to add to the popular conception of the universal use of children as musicians. For some time the idea of proving or disproving the popular idea of the drummer boy in the Continental Army has been of interest to me. Unfortunately, company and regimental rolls for the period contain very few personal descriptions of individual soldiers, thus making the task seem almost impossible. Even when descriptive rolls were made they are often rendered worthless because the document were undated, making the ages given for the men impossible to use. Finally, I struck upon idea of gathering names from the muster rolls and then searching through the pension records as a way of finding musicians’ birth dates. Admittedly, this remained a hit or miss method of proceeding as is evidenced by the fact that out of 292 musicians the ages for only 67 (23 percent) were found (exclusive of the men in the 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment). Ages given by soldiers in their pension applications are still open to some error. Some pension documents contain birth records for the men, and these were used when available. Most of the files give only a statement by the applicant attesting to his age at the time of the deposition. Use of these places much reliance on the reliability of an individual’s memory. In spite of all these caveats the following study, while hardly conclusive, still gives some idea of the average age of the musicians, as well as some insights into their military services.²

Once the men’s ages and services were ascertained there had to be some method of processing the information that would serve to make it useful. For statistical purposes it was decided to use the age of each musician at their first known service as a fifer or drummer. Since it was found that some of these men had switched from the fife to the drum during their service (an instance of changing from the drum to the fife is not known) the ages of these men were used twice, once for their first service as a fifer and once as a drummer. Additionally, two of the men served as company musicians and later became drum and fife majors; these cases were treated in the same manner.     There are a number of tables included in this work. The primary table shows the average ages for the total number of musicians examined. There are also four secondary tables showing the statistics for the New Jersey Regiments, Lamb’s Artillery Regiment, the 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment, and a group of musicians from miscellaneous units.

These give some indication of the average ages within those different groupings.     The final result of this study shows a trend that supports the assertion that most of the army’s musicians were, in fact, quite mature. In the overall grouping the men’s average age was 18.5 years. When broken down as to the particular instrument played, the average for drummers was 19 years and for fifers 17 years. Boy musicians, while they did exist, were the exception rather than the rule. Though it seems the idea of a multitude of early teenage or pre-teenage musicians in the Continental Army is a false one, the legend has some basis in fact. There were young musicians who served with the army. Fifer John Piatt of the 1^st New Jersey Regiment was ten years old at the time of his first service in 1776, while Lamb’s Artillery Regiment Drummer Benjamin Peck was ten years old at the time of his 1780 enlistment. There were also a number of musicians who were twelve, thirteen, or fourteen years old when they first served as musicians with the army.

Among the younger musicians the fife was the preferred instrument. This is born out not only by the age of those who served as fifers but also by one military manual of the period and the soldiers’ accounts themselves. Cuthbertson’s System for the Interior

Management and Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry stated that the “finest children that can be had should always be chosen for Fifers; and as their duty is not very laborious, it matters not how young they are taken, when strong enough to fill the Fife, without endangering their constitutions…” As concerns the drum Cuthbertson stated that a “handsome set of Drummers, who perform their beatings well, being one of the ornaments in the shew of a battalion, care must be taken to inlist none, but such as promise a genteel figure when arrived at maturity; and as few, when past fourteen years of age, attain any great perfection on the Drum; active, ingenious lads, with supple joints, and under that age, should be only chosen …” The author further stipulated that “Boys much under fourteen, unless they are remarkably stout, are rather an incumbrance to a regiment (especially on service) as they are in general unable to bear fatigue, or even carry their Drums on a march…”³

Iron fife excavated at Red Bank battlefield, site of the assault on Fort Mercer, October 22,

1777. Division of Military History and Diplomacy, National Museum of American History,

Catalog #: 58146M, Accession #: 204703; Dimensions: 0.5″ H x 14″ W x 0.5″ D; Specific History. “This fife from the period of the American Revolution was unearthed on Red Bank battleground in 1880 near the New Jersey Monument.”

https://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=231&back=1  _______________

 

Some musician’s narratives support the contention that the younger and smaller the musician the more likely it was he would play the fife rather than the drum. Fifer Samuel Dewees, being “about or turned of 15, but quite small of my age,” was enlisted by his father into the 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment. Although he joined the army in 1777 Dewees spent the first year and a half of his service doing duty in a hospital or as waiter to the regiment’s colonel. He did not perform the duties of a musician until the summer of 1779, even though he had been wearing a musician’s uniform prior to that and must have received some sort of training as a fifer. John Piatt, a fifer in the 1^st New Jersey, was ten years old when he enlisted in 1776 and claimed that sometime during his service he was “taken a prisoner at pluckemin [New Jersey] by the British and released afterwards being a Youth…”⁴

The age of a musician occasionally had other benefits (or possibly embarrassments) and sometimes affected the duties he performed. James Holmes, a drummer in the 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment, was 13 years old when he joined in 1778. He stated in his deposition “that he was not in Any engagements not being permitted by his Captain, on account of his Youth was generally ordered to the rear…” Another musician, James Kirkpatrick of the 3rd New Jersey, enlisted as a fifer in 1778 at the age of 15. Two years later he exchanged his fife for a drum, probably due to experience and maturity. Philip Reamer of Malcom’s Additional Regiment and the 11^th Pennsylvania had a similar experience. He enlisted as a fifer at 14 years of age in 1777 and was made a drummer in 1780, while James Purdy of Lamb’s Artillery Regiment began as a fifer in 1778 and changed to the drum the following year. In all, seven musicians in this study played both the fife and drum during their military service.⁵

As may well be assumed there are indications that as the war continued the numbers of younger musicians declined. In 1775 and 1776 terms of enlistment for the Continental Army soldiers were usually for no more than one year. Beginning in 1777 the army began enlisting men for three years or the war. Those musicians who had enlisted at age 14 in 1777 were 17 years old by 1780, more mature and still looking ahead to three more years of service until the war’s end.

During the course of the war the numbers of men enlisted to be musicians declined. The tables below show that the majority of the men in this sampling (60 percent) enlisted in 1777 or 1778. Beginning in 1778 and continuing through to the end of the war regimental quotas for the individual states were periodically reduced and existing regiments consolidated. These adjustments were due to the chronic problem of supplying the army with enough recruits to keep regiments at their required strengths. In this manner the number of musicians needed for the army was reduced, though the attrition caused by death, desertion, and expired enlistments ensured that periodic shortages of fifers and drummers occurred until the end of the war.⁶

 

First Year of Service for the Musicians Examined

	1776	1777	1778	1779	1780	1781	1782
Number of Men Enlisted	12	23	17	6	4	4	1
Total: 67 Musicians

Ages of the Musicians During Their First Year of Service

 

• 1 – 10 years, 1 – 13 years, 2 – 16 years, 1-18 years, 1-20 years, 2-21

years, 1-23 years, 1-25 years, 1-29 years, 1-35 years

(Average age: 20.5 years)

 

• 1 – 12 years, 1 – 13 years, 6 – 14 years, 4-17 years, 4-18 years, 1-19 years, 1-21 years, 1-23 years, 1-26 years, 1-27 years, 1-35 years, 1-

38 years

(Average age: 19 years)

 

• 1 – 13 years, 1 – 14 years, 2 – 15 years, 1-16 years, 3-17 years, 4-18 years, 2-19 years, 1-20 years, 1-24 years, 1-27 years

(Average age: 18 years)

 

• 1 – 14 years, 1 – 16 years, 1 – 17 years,

1-21 years, 1-26 years, 1 – 28 years

(Average age: 20 years)

 

• 1 – 10 years, 1-11 years, 1 – 14 years, 1-15 years

(Average age: 12.5 years)

 

• 2 – 16 years, 1 – 20 years, 1 – 21 years

(Average age: 18 years)

 

• 1 – 15 years

As a result of the decreasing need for new musicians the following resolution was announced on January 22, 1782:General Orders … The United States in Congress assembled have been pleased to pass the following resolves.

In Congress December 24, 1781.

Resolved, That in future no recruit shall be inlisted to serve as a drummer or fifer. When such are wanted, they shall be taken from the soldiers of the corps in such numbers and of such description as the Commander in Chief or commanding officer of a separate army shall direct, and be returned back and others drawn out as often as the good of the service shall make necessary.

On the same date General George Washington wrote to General William Heath that the resolution of Congress “respecting the Music of the Army… prohibits enlisting any More under that Denomination, but does not affect those already in service; You will be pleased therefore to Order Cloathing for them accordingly.”⁷

Four months later, in April 1782, the lieutenant colonel of the 10^th Massachusetts Regiment wrote Heath concerning his efforts to procure musicians: “I mentioned to your honor the last time I waited on you that the 10^th Massts Regt wanted a number of Drummers & Fifers to compleate their Corps – Mr. Highwell has since been with the Regt and has recommended some to me for the music though not the whole that were wanting we want three Drummers and two Fifers but at present can find but one Fifer and two Drummers who have natural Geniuses for music – the Drummers are Israel Duey and George Durreycoats the Fifer Saml Collimer they are men of small stature and I believe will answer the purpose…”⁸

Of those men noted in the previous letter as having “natural Geniuses for music” the records for only two have been found. George Derecoat is shown to have served in Colonel Benjamin Tupper’s 10^th Regiment for twelve months in 1782 having enlisted in January of the same year. Samuel Collamore served for the same period in the same regiment and is noted as having been appointed a musician as of March 31, 1782. Evidently these men were taken out of the ranks rather than being enlisted specifically as musicians as per the December 1781 orders. One other soldier in this study, George Harley of the 2^nd New Jersey, served as a drummer in 1782, apparently for the first time, and was also probably taken from the ranks.⁹

Samuel Dewees, a fifer in the Pennsylvania Line, recounted that, “…I divided my peacock feathers with Pat Coner [a drummer], and we decorated our caps in fine style with peacock plumes.” (Samuel Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees… The whole written (in part from a manuscript in the handwriting of Captain Dewees) and compiled by John Smith Hanna (R. Neilson, Baltimore, 1844), 272. Illustration by Donna Neary, from Raoul F. Camus, Military Music of the American Revolution. (Chapel Hill, NC, 1976), 126.

 Thought to have been “carried by a Virginia regiment which served under the command of General Daniel Morgan at the battle of Cowpens. The same detachment, or its parent unit, could have served at the battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina.” Revolutionary War drum with a bent wooden shell with iron tacks, leather stretched over each end, and leather hoops held with linen rope. Painted on the side is “This Drum was used in the American Army of the Revolution, at the Battles of

Eutaw, Saratoga and Cowpens. Presented to the Georgia Historical Society by General Charles R. Floyd in

1841.” “Revolutionary War Drum.” Object. Savannah: c1780. From Georgia Historical Society: GHS 1361-AF-107, Georgia Historical Society collection of artifacts. See also, https://tinyurl.com/Georgiadrum .

 Capt. Charles Willson Peale’s company, 2nd Battalion Philadelphia Associators, Princeton battlefield. Fifers and drummers wore reversed colors, as evidenced in this deserter advertisement: “Philadelphia, April. 13, 1776 … Ran  away from the subscriber, on the evening of the fifth instant, an English servant boy, named JOHN MITFORD, about fifteen years of age … He had on, when he went away, a scarlet coatee with white metal buttons, and brown collar, such as fifers of the Philadelphia second battalion commonly wear …“ Pennsylvania Evening Post, 13 April 1776. (Daryian Kelton, drummer)

Although most of the studied pension applications were not very informative beyond the basic service record of the former soldiers, a few give some interesting details concerning the lives of musicians of the army. Several of these narratives corroborate each other in some aspects of the musician’s life. Samuel Dewees, the fifer, continued his services in the military sporadically after the war. During Fries Rebellion in 1799 he was attached to a company of regulars for the purpose of recruiting new soldiers and moved with them to Northampton, Pennsylvania where they “encamped two or three days.” He noted, “I had played the fife so much at this place, I began to spit blood… By the aid of the Doctor’s medicine and the kind nursing treatment I received… I was restored to health again in a few days and able to play the fife as usual.” Another fifer, Swain Parsel of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment, had a similar experience. He “enlisted in the beginning of the year [1776]… as a fifer for one year… That on the expiration of this service he again enlisted in the same Regt. under Captn. Patterson – but the practice of fifing being injurious to his health, he entered the ranks as a private soldier till the termination of the war…”¹⁰

Another old soldier, John McElroy, 11th Pennsylvania Regiment, had a unique story to tell of his service. He stated 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…” McElroy had enlisted as a fifer in 1776 and, despite the accident to his eyes, was appointed to the position of fife major in 1780. John McElroy and another fifer, Aaron Thompson of the 3rd New Jersey, both retained some 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 that 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.”

A further search of the pension files would in all likelihood supply additional information about musicians’ lives as well as more evidence regarding their age. This study and the statistics it has produced give a reasonable idea of the age of the average drummer and fifer in the Continental Army, having been found to be about 18 years. More research into the personal statistics and military duties of musicians is highly desirable in order that a full picture of their services be made known. There still lie untapped many journals, letters, and other documents which may shed light on this littleknown aspect of the army of the revolution.

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(Note: Any of the soldier’s narratives given above for which sources have not been given will be found in the alphabetical listings of musicians included in the statistics section immediately following.)

 

Statistics for the Overall Grouping of Musicians Examined

(Not including 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment)

73 musicians total

Total Average age – 18.5 years

Average age for fifers – 17 years (17 years including fife majors)

Average age for drummers – 19 years (20 years including drum majors)

Drummers

Total – 26	Average Age – 19 years
Number of Men	Age at Time of Initial Service
1	10 years
1	12 years
1	13 years
2	14 years
1	15 years
3	16 years
4	17 years
4	18 years
1	19 years
1	21 years
1	23 years
1	24 years
1	25 years
1	26 years
1	27 years
2	35 years

Drum Majors

Total – 2	Average age – 28 years
1	19 years
1	38 years

Fifers

Total – 37	Average Age – 17 years
1	10 years
1	11 years
2	13 years
7	14 years
2	15 years
2	16 years
6	17 years
5	18 years
2	19 years
3	20 years
3	21 years
1	23 years
1	24 years
1	28 years

Fife Majors

Total – 2	Average Age – 22 years
1	20 years
1	24 years

Instrument Unknown

Total – 6	Average Age – 20 years
1	14 years
1	15 years
1	16 years
1	21 years
1	26 years
1	29 years

Adjusted Statistics Including 11^th Pennsylvania List (See Section III, data uncertain)

Total musicians including PA Archives list – 82

Adjusted Total Average age – 18 years

Adjusted average for fifers – 17 years (including fife majors)

Adjusted average for drummers – 19 years (including drum majors) [See Part Two]

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I. The New Jersey Line

 

1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th New Jersey Regiments; also including Spencer’s, Malcom’s and Forman’s Additional Regiments

(Note: Two of the musicians from Malcom’s Regiment who were later transferred to the 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment have not been included with the New Jersey troops.)

 

 

43 musicians total:	Average age for grand total – 20 years
	Average age for fifers – 18 years
	Average age for drummers – 21 years (without drum majors)
	22 years (including drum majors)

New Jersey Statistics

204 Jersey musicians, information found for 43 (21 percent). Of those studied the following information was found:

 

	Number of Men	Age at Time of Initial Service
Drummers – Total: 14 (15)	1	14 years
	1	15 years
	2	16 years
	2	17 years
	2	18 years
	1	25 years
	1	26 years
	2	27 years
	2	35 years
Fifer and Drummer – Total: 1	1	15 years as fifer in 1778
(counted once as a drummer and once as a fifer)		17 years as drummer 1780
Fifers – Total: 19 (20)	1	10 years
	1	14 years
	1	15 years
	5	17 years
	3	18 years
	1	19 years
	2	20 years
	2	21 years
	1	23 years
	1	24 years
	1	28 years
Drum Majors – Total: 2	1	19 years
	1	38 years
Instrument Unknown – Total: 6	1	14 years
	1	15 years
	1	16 years
	1	21 years
	1	26 years
	1	29 years

 

 

 Note: The ages below in parentheses are for the first known year each soldier served as a musician.

Benjamin Applegate, Spencer’s Additional Regiment – Born in 1763 (16 years in 1779)

Daniel Applegate, drum, 1^st New Jersey – 80 years old in 1832 (26 years in 1777)

“… at the Battle of short hills [he] succeeded in getting Col Martins horse out of the

Mire in face of the Enemy and brought him safely into the American Encampment…” Deposition by William Lyons: “…he also remembers when Col Martins horse got mired while retreating from the Enemy at the Battle of Short Hills of the 4^th Jersey Regt. when the said Applegate at the risk of his Life got the mired horse out of the slough when the Enemy commenced firing at him but he safely reached the Camp with the horse…”

Benjamin Baldwin, drum, 1^st New Jersey – 59 years old in 1820 (17 years in 1778)

John Bowers, drum, 1^st New Jersey – 61 years old in 1820 (18 years in 1777) (Listed on the February 1782 roll but pension states that he enlisted in 1777 as a drummer in Captain McMires’ Company. No 1777 rolls are available for that company and McMires’ was killed at Germantown on October 4, 1777. The date of enlistment is taken as per the pension file.)

Jabez Bigelow, drum major, 3^rd New Jersey – 61 years old in 1820 (19 years in 1778)

Samuel Brown, 3^rd New Jersey – 55 years old in 1818 (14 years in 1777)

William Blair, fife, 2^nd New Jersey – born April 1754 (24 years old in 1778)

Robert Coddington, fife, 4^th New Jersey – born in 1760 (17 years in 1777)

McDonald Campbell, fife, 1^st New Jersey and 4th New Jersey, nine months recruit in 1778 – 67 years old in 1820 (23 years in 1776) “On the llth of November 1775, he enlisted as a fifer, …in the 1^st Jersey Regiment, then commanded by Col. William Wyands, which Regiment was raised for one years service: that shortly after his enlistment, he was at sea, with said Captain Conaway, and aided in the capture of a British armed vessel, called the ‘blue Mountain Valley’ that afterwards, viz, on the 1st. day of May 1776, he went with said Col. Wyands regiment from New Jersey to the Northern frontier, passing through Albany, thence to Fort George, thence to Lake Champlain; thence to the river St. Lawrence, and thence to the three Rivers in

Canada, at which place the American & British forces had an engagement, on the

19th. of June… and the Americans were defeated and forced to retreat to

Ticonderoga. He remained with the Army at Ticonderoga, until the expiration of the year for which the regiment was raised, when he, with the whole Regiment was discharged. In the latter part of Nov. 1776 he returned to his fathers, then residing near Perth Amboy, in the state of New Jersey, and soon after volunteered to serve as a guide, in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Col. Cook, then stationed in New Jersey, and while serving in the capacity of a guide, he was engaged in several skirmishes with the British, viz, at Strawberry Hill, Tappan &c Afterwards, and during the winter of 1776-7, Capt. Fitz Randolph of New Jersey, was commissioned by the Governor of that state to raise a Company of state troops, to serve for one year, as a guard upon the lines. The Company was known by the name of Fitz Randolph Rangers – Thomas Combs was first Lieutenant, Jacob Rowland 2nd Lieut. and – Green Ensign. This declarant enlisted in said Company in… [the] county of Middlesex… in December 1776: A few days after his enlistment, Col. Cooks regiment of Pennsylvania troops, and Capt. Fitz Randolphs Company attacked a British forageing party, which came from Bonamstown, in New Jersey, then in the possession of the enemy, and compelled them to retreat with some loss. He was actively engaged in the affair, in which his Capt. Fitz Randolph was Killed, after his death Lieut. Combs became Captain, Rowland first Lieutenant and Green 2^nd. Lieut. by seniority, and this declarant was thereupon commissioned as an Ensign in the Company… sometime in January 1777. Five or six days after he received his Commission as an Ensign, Col. Cook, of the Pennsylvania line, & Capt. Combs, of the Rangers, were ordered to dislodge the British force, then lying at Bonamstown, under the command of Col. Webster of the 71 British Regiment – the command of this expedition devolved upon Capt. Patterson, of Col. Cooks regiment, on account of the absence of the Colonel & Major. The American forces, under cover of the night, succeeded in making their entrance into Bonamstown, just at day light, without being discovered – they were however soon fired on by the English sentinels – an action ensued the Company of Rangers was lead on by capt. Combs and this declarant, who was posted in front – Capt. Combs was severely wounded in the foot, at the British being reinforced by the 42^nd Regt. then just arrived from Scotland, the Americans were unable to maintain the possession of the place, and made good their retreat, carrying off their Killed & wounded, and about 40 prisoners. In this affair a Number of Americans were Killed, and about the bold Capt. McElhatten (as he was called) and Capt. Riley [Bath or Both?] of Col. Cooks Regiment were severely wounded. A few days after this affair, this declarant was in an action at Piscataway… in which Col. Cook… commanded the American troops. About this time, (the precise date he is unable to recollect) this declarant was in an action at the Ash Swamp… & also in another called the battle of Short Hill. Sometime after these battles, the two Lieutenants in Capt. Combs’ Company resigned their commissions on or about the 1^st March 1777, this declarant was commissioned… as the 1^st Lieutenant in Capt. Combs’ Company… until the Month of August 1777… when finding, from the continued disability of Capt Combs, that the command of the company would devolve on this declarant, & unwilling to incur the responsibilty of such a command, he resigned his commission… On or about the 1^st of May 1778, this declarant again joined the American army, then lying at Valley Forge, and entered as a private, in the Company commanded by Capt. Jonathan Furman, in the 4^th Jersey Regiment, of which his former Capt, John Conway, was then Colonel – two or three days after his arrival at Valley Forge, the American army crossed over to Jersey, & on the 28^th of June 1778, the battle of Monmouth was fought, in which this deponent was actively engaged throughout. Soon after this battle, an order was received from Gen. Green, for the employment of forty two Express riders – this declarant… was appointed one of these riders… [and] continued in the service for upwards of two years… [at which time] his horse fell with him, & upon him… [he] was ruptured in the abdomen so badly as to disable him for such service…”

Isaac Coovert, 1^st New Jersey – 64 years old in 1819 (21 years in 1776)

Martin Chandler, drum, 3^rd New Jersey – Born April 1763 (14 years in 1777)

“… he was in the battle of Short Hills in the State of New Jersey; was in the

Campaigns under General Sullivan against the Indians in Genesee; at the Battle of Brandywine; at Germantown Monmouth and under the Command of La Fayette at the siege of Cornwallis and at the siege of the redoubt at Yorktown / he was wounded in the right ankle by a musket Ball at Elizabeth Town Point which was the only wound he received during his service…”

Squire Cockram, fife, Spencer’s Additional – 58 years old in 1818 (17 years in 1777)

Valentine Christian, fife, 3^rd New Jersey – Born in 1756 (20 years in 1776)

Caleb Fulkerson, fife, 1^st New Jersey – 71 years old in 1832 (17 years in 1778) Nine months recruit from the Jersey militia. In 1778 “Caleb… enlisted as a fifer for nine months in a company of troops in the Regiment of Col. Matthias Ogden in the Brigade of Genl. Maxfield and faithfully served most of that term at Elizabeth-town where the troops were stationed after the Battle of Monmouth. That at that Battle the Brigade to which the said Fulkerson was attached was held as a reserve [illegible] excepting their Artillery which was engaged.”

George Farney, fife, 2^nd New Jersey – 69 years old in 1820 (28 years in 1779)

Robert Fowler, fife, 2^nd New Jersey (pension received under the name of Robert Wardell) 61 years old in 1820 (19 years in 1778) “Robert Wardell formerly Robert Fowler of the… State [of Indiana] personally appeared… on the 27^th day of July…

[1818 and] saith that some time in the month of February or March he thinks

February in the year… [1778] that he enlisted in the servis of the United States under Captain Jonathan Phillips in the second Jersey Regiment… he further states that sometime in the latter part.., [of 1782] or in the beginning of eighty three the second Regiment being reduced to a Battallion by filling up the first Regiment out of it he also states that the said Jonathan Phillips resigned his Commision as Captain of said company and Captain Able Wayman took the command of said company said company being taken to fill up the first Regiment… which was Commanded by Cols Ogden and Barber the latter being killed by the falling of a tree in the winter before the Armey was disbanded. He further states that he was discharged by the aforesaid Captain Able Wayman on the third day of June… [1783] but thinking that his discharge would be of little use to him he neglected to bring it with him when he migrated to the western country… he further states that the reason for his changing his name from Fowler to Wardell that his mother was a single woman by the name of Fowler when he was born and that his reputed fathers name was Wardell and that after he came home from the Armey… then his fathers brother his father being dead requested of him to name him self Wardell and has been known by that name to this time…”

Joel Garrison, drum, 3^rd New Jersey – born in 1760 (16 years in 1776)

John Grace, fife, 3^rd New Jersey – 64 years old in 1820 (21 years in 1777) Joseph Gate [Gale], fife, 3^rd New Jersey – 60 years old in 1818 (20 years in 1778)

John Guy, drum, 3^rd New Jersey – 67 years old in 1818 (25 years in 1776)

Charles Hulet [Hatch], drum, 1^st New Jersey – died in 1835, aged 75 (18 years in 1778) The following deposition was given by Hulett’s son-in-law in 1845: “… said Hulett… enlisted in Captain Nichols company [possibly Noah Nichols, captain in Stevens’ Artillery Battalion as of November 9, 1776. In 1778 he was a captain in the 2^nd Continental Artillery. See entry for Joseph Lummis] which was a part of the first Regiment of New Jersey in the service of the United States which Regiment was commanded by Col. Ogden. He enlisted as aforesaid on the 7 May 1778… He was engaged in the battle of Monmouth and was wounded in the leg and then or soon after taken a prisoner and by the enemy and carried in captivity to the West Indies, To relieve himself from the horrors of his imprisonment he joined the British Army as a musician and was sent to the United States. That soon after his return… he deserted from the British ranks and again joined the army of the United States and the south under General Greene. He was present at the siege of York and after the surrender of Cornwallis he was one of the corps that escorted the prisoners which was sent to Winchester… and he remained in service to the end of the war. This declarant always understood that said Hulett at the close of the war held the rank of Drum-Major.”

George Harley [Haley or Hailey], drum, 2^nd New Jersey – 51 years old in 1818 (15 years in 1782) The pension states that this soldier enlisted in 1779 in the 3rd

Company commanded by Captain Weyman and also that he was at the Siege of Yorktown. The first document on which he appears is the July 1782 return. No prior service as a musician is known and the 1782 date is used.

Richard Jobs, drum major, 4^th New Jersey – 81 years old in 1820 (38 years in 1777)

Joseph King, drum, 1^st New Jersey – 67 years old in 1818 (27 years in 1778)

Thomas Hickman, found in the Joseph King pension file. Hickman claimed that “he was a sergeant and Clerk to the Company of Capt Helmns, of the 2d Regt. of the New Jersey Brigade… that in the Autumn of 1778 he was employed in recruiting, and distinctly remembers enlisting Joseph King at a station in the County of Somerset, during that season – but the precise date he cannot remember. The farmers were husking corn at the time. Jos. King was then between 18 & 19 years of age… King was made a drummer after enlistment, being found to possess a talent for that service – King was afterwards made a drum major.” A check of the muster rolls show that King never served as a drum major.

James Kirkpatrick, fife and drum, Forman’s Regiment and 3^rd New Jersey – Born 1763

(15 years in 1778) Began serving as a drummer in January of 1780, (17 years in

1780). Kirkpatrick stated “That he entered in the nine months service in General

David Forman’s Regiment in the spring of 1778 and joined the troops at Mount Holly… that he enlisted in Capt. Patterson’s company in the 3^rd New Jersey in the fall of the year 1778 as a Fifer and continued to serve in that Regiment until it was reduced, when he was transferred to the first Jersey Regiment and continued to serve in it as Drummer until he was discharged at New Burgh…”

Isaac Montawney, drum, Malcom’s Additional Regiment – about 90 years old in 1832 (about 35 years in 1777)

Moses Mulliner, drum, 3^rd New Jersey – 77 years in 1818 (35 years old in 1776)

Stephen Osborn, 1^st New Jersey – 87 years old in 1840 (26 years in 1779)

John Powers, 2^nd New Jersey – 74 years old in 1821 (29 years in 1776)

Deposition of Jacob Edmonds: Edmonds and Powers “…served together in Capt.

Joseph Brearley’s company in Col William Maxwell’s Regiment… when he enlisted that he remembers the said Powers was in the Regiment in Trenton in November 1775 that they marched together from Trenton to Canada that he recollects hearing… Power’s name every day at Roll call & thinks he was always present never having been detained a day by sickness… they went together from the Plains of Abraham over to Point Levi[s] that this deponent was taken prisoner at the three Rivers, but that Powers remained in the service at that time.”

John Poole [Pool], drum, 2^nd New Jersey – 70 years old in 1820 (27 years in 1777)

Swain Parsel, fife, 3^rd New Jersey – 62 years old in 1820 (18 years in 1776)

“He enlisted in the beginning of the year One thousand seven hundred and seventy six as a fifer for one year under Captain Samuel Potter in Col. Daytons Regt. – That on the expiration of this service he again enlisted in the same Regt. under Captn. Patterson – but the practice of fifing being injurious to his health, he entered the ranks as a private soldier till the termination of the war… he was in the Battles of

Brandywine, Germantown & Monmouth, that he was wounded twice, once a musket ball passed through his left arm and hit his body – and another time a Musket ball passed through his leg…”

Jonathan Dayton wrote the following substantiation: “… Swaine Parsell was a soldier in the third Jersey Regt., & in the Company commanded by me as Capt. Lieutt. when he was wounded in the arm near the stone bridge in Elizabethtown, of which the British troops under Genl. Kyphausen had possession in June 1780 – And I do further certify that …[he] received some time after another wound in his leg, when on guard near Halsted’s point opposite to Staten island under my then first Lieutenant John Blair…”

John Piatt, fife, 1^st New Jersey – 66 years old in 1832 (10 years in 1776)

“… he enlisted as a Fifer at the age of ten years in the Company of Daniel Piatt (who was his Father) in the first New Jersey Regiment… in the latter part of the year 1775… [and] was marched to Brunswick upper landing – thence to Elizabethtown and joined the Regiment, under Lord Stirling… Marched thence to New York and lay in Barracks till the following spring opened then was ordered to March to Long Island and from thence to Canada (the Rigement at this time was commanded by Colo. Win’s) and proceeded towards Quebeck as far as the three rivers, there had an engagement with the British, and retreated to Ticonderoga and lay there till late in the fall, or begining of Winter, and then returned to the state of New Jersey – directly after my Father Capt. Danl Piatt recruited his Company again and was soon promoted to the rank of Major in the New Jersey line – The officers was in Pensylvania recruiting a new Company at the time Genl Washington attacked the

Hessians at Trenton – the deponent attending the rendezvous as a Musician. The Company was marched to the Delaware to aid Genl. Washington in the battle – was prevented crossing the river till next day after the Capture of the Hessians – from thence was marched on to [Princeton?] – saw the dead and wounded in the collidge – The company quartered one Winter at Elizabethtown, part of the 1st. regt. – The deponent thinks the regt. was commanded by Colo. Matth Ogden – after that the regiment was marched to the Westward under Genl. Sullivan – The deponent was kiked by the horse of Colo Brearly and disenabled to continue his march with the regiment – The troops returned in the fall of 1779 – and went into Winter quarters at Mendham near Morristown placed under the immediate comd. of Genl. Washington

– here the deponent joined his compy and continued with them through the Winter –

The regiment was Marched to Camptown in the summer of 1780 at the time Genl Kniphausen marched the British army to Springfield on his way (as was supposed) to attack Genl Washington at Morristown – was then marched to Springfield was engaged in the battle – Young Ogden was killed a considerable number more killed & wounded The deponent was in the house of Parson Coldwell saw his Wife a

Corps, shot by the British – at Springfield – Was taken a prisoner at pluckemin by the British and released afterwards being a Youth…”

William Radley [Wradley], fife, 3^rd New Jersey – 62 years old in 1820 (21 years in 1779)

James Rodgers, fife, 1^st New Jersey – 55 years old in 1819 (14 years in 1778)

David Rogers [Rodgers], fife, 4^th and 3^rd New Jersey – born in 1760 (17 years old in 1777)

Joseph Squire, drum, Spencer’s Additional Regiment – 58 years old in 1820 (17 years in 1779) (Enlisted in Captain Pierson’s Company in 1777 as a private and did not serve as a musician until April 1779.)

John Sithens, fife, 2^nd New Jersey – 69 years old in 1828 (18 years in 1777)

He “inlisted on the 17 January in the year 1777 under Captain Cuming at Bridgton Cumberland County New Jersey & Marched from thence to Burlington from thence to Princeton & from thence to the short hills after which he joined the Main Army… & was in the battles at short hills Brandywine Monmouth & Springfield & with the

Indians at Shemung at James Town in Virginia and at the taking of Corn Wallace…”

He received the “Badge of Merit for seven years of Service” and was discharged June 5, 1783.

William Stives, fife, 3^rd New Jersey – 60 years old in 1820 (18 years in 1778)

Aaron Thompson, fife, 3^rd New Jersey

Mr. Crane “…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. That the Deponent has since his death, seen his tombstone over his Grave at… Connecticut Farms”, New Jersey.

James Whitehead, 1^st New Jersey – 57 years old in 1820 (15 years in 1778)

Jacob Woole [Woolley], drum, 1^st New Jersey – born in 1762 (16 years in 1778)

William Weston, fife, 1^st New Jersey – born in 1761 (17 years in1778)

James Wygan [Wygant or Wagon], fife, 2^nd New Jersey – 53 years old in 1818 (15 years in 1780)

___________

 2^nd Continental Artillery Regiment

 

55 musicians were examined with information being found for 13 (24 percent).

15 musicians total:	Average age of grand total – 17 years
	Average age for fifers –   16 years not including fife major
	17 years including fife major
	Average age for drummers – 17 years

 

Lamb’s ArtilleryStatistics

	Number of Men	Age at Time of Initial Service
Drummers – Total: 4 (5)	1	10 years
	1	16 years
	1	18 years
	1	23 years
Fifer and Drummer – Total: 1	1	18 years when fifer in 1778
		19 years when drummer in 1779
Fifers – Total: 7 (9)	1	11 years
	3	14 years
	1	16 years
	1	20 years
	1	21 years
Fifer & Fife Major: 1		19 years when fifer in 1777
		24 years when fife major in 1782

 

 

Elias Brown, fifer 1777, fife major 1782 – 62 years old in 1820 (19 years in 1777) (fife major, 24 years in 1782) first enlisted in 1777 in 5^th Connecticut Regt.

William DeMott, fife – 51 years old in 1820 (11 years in 1780)

Joseph Gallaspy (Gillespie), fife – born in 1760 (21 years in 1781) killed in battle near Lewiston, New York in 1813.

Arthur Gillass (Gillis), drum – 64 years old in 1818 (23 years in 1777)

Peter Gross, fife – 57 years old in 1818 (20 years in 1781)

Joseph Lummis, drum, Lambs Artillery Regiment – 59 years old in 1818 (18 years in 1777) He “enlisted… in the Company commanded by Captain Dayton (who then Commanded an Independent Company of Artillery) to serve as a Drummer for three years in the Month of May 1777 he Joined the Army at Middlebrook, and… was detatched to the Pennsylvania line and served at the right wing of that division [Commanded by General Wayne], Captain Dayton resigned [and then Captain Bond Carnes Commanded a short time] and Captain Randal Commanded the Company, this Deponent was in the battle of Brandywine, Germantown and Pialy [i.e., Paoli,

under the Command of Captain Randal], took winter quarters at Valley forge and in the Spring of 1778 was detatched to the New Jersey troops under the Command of General Maxfield [and was with him at the battle of Monmouth] served in the Jersey line the Campaign of 1778 and took Winter quarters at Elizabeth town, and in the Spring 1779 the Company was sent to Eastown with the pieces taken at Saratoga where they remained until General Sullivan returned from after the Indians, then the Company returned to Morristown to Winter quarters [and there joined the Second

Regiment of Artillery… Commanded by Colonel Stephens], in the Spring of 1780 the

Company [with a detatchment of Artillery from the Second Regiment] was sent to Springfield, where this deponent Continued until his time of Service Expired, at which time the Company was Commanded [by] Captain [Isaiah] Wool [of New

York]…”

Deposition by Joseph Bloomfield in 1820: “In 1776 two Companies of Artillery were raised in New Jersey for one Year & afterwards the Officers

Commissioned for the War. the Company in West Jersey, was Commanded by

Hugg-Westcoat & Dayton – and arranged as one of the Companys of Lambs Artillery

& in 1778 Attached to the Jersey Brigade with two field Pieces…”

Benjamin Loring, drum – 53 years old in 1818 (16 years in 1781)

Isaac Moore, fife – 52 years old in 1818 (14 years in 1780)

James Purdy, fife and drum – 60 years old in 1820 (fife, 18 years in 1778) (dram, 19 years in 1779)

James Pembrook, drum (brother of David Pembrook, see below) missing October 6,

1777; made his escape from the enemy December 20, 1778

David Pembrook, fife – 68 years old in 1833 (14 years in 1779)

“It was on the 1^st February 1779 he enlisted for during the War, as a fifer, and served nearly two years as a Fifer… and then went into the Ranks as a private… He was in one battle of Johnstown, where Colonel Willett commanded – When he entered the service at West Point in 1779 his father David Pembrook, and his brother James Pembrook, belonged to the same company in which he enlisted… during the late war [of 1812] he served… in the 5^th United States Regiment… He was wounded at Detroit and disabled so as to be unable to labor, and is now wholly disabled…”

Benjamin Peck, drum – 53 years old in 1823 (10 years in 1780)

Joseph Ranford, fife, Walker’s Co. – 57 years old in 1820 (14 years in 1777) the pension denotes as having belonged to Crane’s Artillery, Wells’ Co.

Christopher Shultz (Shellts), fife – 55 years old in 1820 (16 years in 1781)

(His pension notes that he enlisted in 1777 but the rolls show that he enlisted in January of 1781)

Robert Saunders (Sanders), fife – just enlisted in October 1778, noted as “practicing at the [artillery] park”

 

 

 

 

 

________________

 

 

 

III.  11^th Pennsylvania Regiment *

 

Gleaned from the printed muster rolls of the 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment, containing personal information for each man. The ages are taken to be as of the date of enlistment. The date of this return is not known though there are some indications that it was made in 1780. For statistical purposes the 1780 date for the roll is used to determine the men’s age at their time of enlistment. Due to uncertainty as to the accuracy of these rolls this data has been evaluated separately. Additionally this information has not been included in the table of statistics for the overall group of musicians examined.11

 

11^th Pennsylvania Statistics

 

6 drum	Average age – 17 years	1-11
		1 – 12
		1-13
		1 – 14
		1 – 15
		1 -37
3 fife	Average age – 13 years	1-11
		1 – 13
		1 – 16
	Total average age – 16 years

 

Age at time of enlistment

John Brown, fife – 14 years old, enlisted in 1777 (11 years in 1777)

 

Thomas Cunningham, drum – 18 years old, enlisted in 1777 (15 years in 1777)

 

Benjamin Jeffries, drum – 15 years old, enlisted in 1777 (12 years in 1777)

 

Robert Hunter, drum – 40 years old, enlisted in 1777 (37 years in 1777)

 

Thomas Harrington, drum – 14 years old, enlisted in 1777 (11 years in 1777)

 

Samuel Nightlinger, drum – 16 years old, enlisted in 1777 (13 years in 1777)

 

James Raddock, fife – 16 years old, enlisted in 1777 (13 years in 1777)

 

George Shively, fife – 19 years old, enlisted in 1777 (16 years in 1777)

 

David Williams, drum – 17 years old, enlisted in 1777 (14 years in 1777)

 

 

 

Squad drill, without arms, Fort Ticonderoga, New York.

___________________

 

IV.  Miscellaneous Musicians

 

33 musicians were examined. Muster rolls for Patton’s and Rawling’s Additional Regiments were examined in their entirety. The additional musicians were either taken from partial listings or merely stumbled upon during research. Rawling’s Regimental muster rolls were examined but no information was found in the pension files or elsewhere.

 

Miscellaneous Musician Statistics

14 musicians total	Average age of grand total – 16 years
	Average age for fifers – 15 years not including fife major
	15.5 years including fife major
	Average age for drummers – 16 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Number of Men	Age at Time of Initial Service
Drummers – Total: 4 (5)	1	12 years
	1	13 years
	1	18 years
	1	21 years
Fifer and Drummer – Total: 1	1	14 years when fifer in 1777
		17 years when drummer in 1778
Fifers – Total: 6 (8)	2	13 years
	2	14 years
	1	17 years
	1	18 years
Fifer & Fife Major	1	16 years when fifer in 1776
		20 years when fife major in 1780
Patton’s Regt.:                 Drummer		1 18 years
Fifer		1 14 years
		1 17 years
4th Pennsylvania:           Drummer	1	21 years
Fifer	1	13 years
10th Pennsylvania:          Fifer	1	18 years
11th Pennsylvania:           Drummer	1	12 years
	1	13 years
Fifer & Fife Major	1	14 years when fifer in 1776
		20 years fife major in 1780
Drummer and fifer	1	16 years when fifer in 1777
		17 years when drummer in 1780
3rd Maryland:                         Fifer	1	13 years
Massachusetts:                       Fifer	1	14 years

 

Thomas Burk, fife, 10^th Pennsylvania – 60 years old in 1820 (18 years old in 1778) enlisted in 1778.12

William Darby, drum, Patton’s Additional & 11^th Pennsylvania – 60 years old in 1819 (18 years in 1777)

Laurence Frey [Fry], drum, Malcom’s Additional & 11^th Pennsylvania – 60 years old in 1825 (12 years in 1777)¹³

 James Holmes, drum, 11^th Pennsylvania – 53 years old in 1818 (13 years in 1778) enlisted in 1778.¹⁴

“Deponent saith that he was not in Any engagements not being permitted by his Captain, on account of his Youth was generally ordered to the rear – was with Genl. Sullivan up the Susquehannah as far as Tioga…”

John Hutchison, drum, 4^th Pennsylvania – 63 years old in 1818 (21 years in 1776)¹⁵ 

Barney Johnson, fife, 3^rd Maryland – 57 years old in 1820 (13 years in 1776)

Matthew Jackson, fife, 4^th Massachusetts – 57 years old in 1820 (14 years in 1777)

John McElroy, fife, 11^th Pennsylvania -(60 years old in 1820, [16 years in 1776, fifer] [20 years in 1780, fife major])¹⁶ In 1776 “…he enlisted as a fifer in the sixth Penn.

Battalion for the term of one year, in Capt. James Wilsons Company of foot, in Col. William Irvines Regiment… the said Declarant… marched to lower Canada, and was in the battle of the Three Rivers above Quebec on the 8th. day of June 1776, and also in several skirmishes with Indians and British. That the declarant in the latter part of… 1776 again enlisted as a fifer with Col. Hartly of the Penna. line to serve during the war, and served under Genl. Wayne in the years [1777 and 1778.]… [In 1779],.. served in Sullivans Campaign through the Indian Country as fifer of the 11^th  Regmt. Pa. line, and then returned to Genl. Waynes command in the state of New Jersey in [1780]… was then appointed Fife Major, and served as such in the 3^rd  Regiment of the Penna. line under Col. Craigs command – and also served in part of the years 1782 & 1783 in the second Regmt. commanded by Col. Humpton… was honorably discharged on the 2^nd  day of July AD. 1783…” In another deposition McElroy stated that “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… N.B. I have my old Fife and knapsack yet also”

Philip Reamer [Roemer], fife and drum, Malcom’s Additional & 11^th Pennsylvania – 61 years old in 1824 (fife, 14 years in 1777) (drum, 17 years in 1780)¹⁷

George Reese, fife, Patton’s Additional – 56 years old in 1819 (14 years in 1777)

William Reddick, fife, Patton’s Additional – 58 years old in 1818 (17 years in 1777)

Jacob Wisner, fife, 4^th Pennsylvania – 55 years old in 1819 (13 years in 1777)¹⁸

Acknowledgements

 

I wish to thank both Gary Vorwald and Thaddeus Weaver for their comments, insights and suggestions concerning the narrative at the beginning of this study. Additionally, the microfilm collection of pension files and muster rolls in the collections of the David Library of the American Revolution were invaluable and necessary for the completion of this work. Finally, special thanks go to Linnea Bass, Brigade of Guards, and Bruce Wilson, 3^rd New Jersey Regiment, for their help in transferring my writings from my ancient computer to a format usable by the Brigade Dispatch, in a much appreciated, albeit roundabout, manner.

General Sources

 

Revolutionary War Rolls, National Archives Microfilm Publications, Record Group 93, M246, Washington, 1980:

reel 55 to reel 62, muster rolls of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th New Jersey Regiments; reels 128 and 129, Spencer’s Additional Regiment; reels 125 and 126, Malcom’s Additional Regiment; reel 126, Patton’s Additional Regiment; reel 126, Rawling’s Additional Regiment; reel 117 to Reel 120, Lamb’s 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment.

 

Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications in the National Archives, Washington, D.C., 1976. The actual applications and related materials may be found in National Archives Microfilm Publication M804 (2,670 reels).

 

Raoul F. Camus, Military Music of the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976).

 

Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution – April 1775 to December 1783 (Baltimore, 1982).

 

The Life and Adventures of M’D. Campbell: The Money-Maker, No publisher, no date (held in the special collections of Rutgers University).

 

Samuel Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees… The whole written (in part from a manuscript in the handwriting of Captain Dewees) and compiled by John Smith Hanna. (R. Neilson, Baltimore, 1844), 92-97, 125-126, 133-134, 138-152, enlistment and detached service; 148, some time between late summer of 1778 and spring of 1779 Dewees was serving as a waiter at Humpton’s private residence at Somerset Courthouse in New Jersey. He claimed that while he “homed” he “was dressed in a Fifer’s regimental coat and cap, with [a] horse or cow tail hanging thereon…”; 152-153, attack on Stony Point. Samuel Dewees’ pension file gives two different ages (57 years old in 1820 and 56 years old in 1818) for which reason he is not included in the age statistics of this study. A brief outline of his early services according to his memoirs is as follows: His father having been captured at Fort Washington in November of 1776 was released from prison in the beginning of 1777. Samuel Dewees was enlisted by his father as a fifer, in the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment commanded by Colonel Richard Humpton, being “about or turned of 15, but quite small of my age.” Dewees served in the fall of 1777 in a hospital at the “Brandywine meeting-house” (probably Birmingham Meetinghouse), at one point under the command of Captain George Ross, Jr. of the 11th Regiment, and remained on duty with the sick or was absent from the army until the spring of 1778. Following his return to the army at Valley Forge be rejoined the 11th Pennsylvania, became waiter to Colonel Humpton and again was detached from the army. In July of 1779 when he returned to his regiment he claimed to have been “one of the musicians attached to the detachment” which attempted to attack Stony Point, though General Anthony Wayne left “the musicians (or at least a portion of them) myself included in the number behind him.” Dewees says that this assault was not successful and he did not take part in the later successful assault on July 16th (hereafter cited as Dewees, History of the

Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees).

Fifer Samuel Dewees’ memoir can be viewed at, http://www.fifemuseum.com/sammy-thefifer.html (Courtesy of Steve Dillon)

Notes

1. Raoul F. Camus, Military Music of the American Revolution. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1976 (see pp. 99-107 for Norfolk manual and other drum commands).

Samuel Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees… The whole written (in part from a manuscript in the handwriting of Captain Dewees) and compiled by John Smith Hanna. Baltimore: R. Neilson, 1844, 92-97, 125-126, 133-134, 138-152, 163-165, 170176; Dewees was a fifer in the 11^th Pennsylvania Regiment.

Samuel Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees… The whole written (in part from a manuscript in the handwriting of Captain Dewees) and compiled by John Smith Hanna. (R. Neilson, Baltimore, 1844), 92-97, 125-126, 133-134, 138-152, enlistment and detached service; 148, some time between late summer of 1778 and spring of 1779 Dewees was serving as a waiter at Humpton’s private residence at Somerset Courthouse in New Jersey. He claimed that while he “homed” he “was dressed in a Fifer’s regimental coat and cap, with [a] horse or cow tail hanging thereon…”; 152-153, attack on Stony Point. Samuel Dewees’ pension file gives two different ages (57 years old in 1820 and 56 years old in 1818) for which reason he is not included in the age statistics of this study. A brief outline of his early services according to his memoirs is as follows: His father having been captured at Fort Washington in November of 1776 was released from prison in the beginning of 1777. Samuel Dewees was enlisted by his father as a fifer, in the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment commanded by Colonel Richard Humpton, being “about or turned of 15, but quite small of my age.” Dewees served in the fall of 1777 in a hospital at the “Brandywine meeting-house” (probably Birmingham Meetinghouse), at one point under the command of Captain George Ross, Jr. of the 11th Regiment, and remained on duty with the sick or was absent from the army until the spring of 1778. Following his return to the army at Valley Forge be rejoined the 11th Pennsylvania, became waiter to Colonel Humpton and again was detached from the army. In July of 1779 when he returned to his regiment he claimed to have been “one of the musicians attached to the detachment” which attempted to attack Stony Point, though General Anthony Wayne left “the musicians (or at least a portion of them) myself included in the number behind him.” Dewees says that this assault was not successful and he did not take part in the later successful assault on July 16th.

Fifer Samuel Dewees’ memoir can be viewed at, http://www.fifemuseum.com/sammy-thefifer.html (Courtesy of Steve Dillon)

 

John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources

1745-1799.Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1931-1944; 1, 4, 6 June 1777, 11 July 1777, v. 8 (1933), 155, 181, 185-186, 379; 16, 23 August 1777, v. 9 (1933), 79-80, 124-126; 8 February 1778, v. 10 (1933), 433-434; 9 September 1779, v. 16 (1937), 257-258.

 

Philip R.N. Katcher, Encyclopedia of British, Provincial, and German Army Units 1775-1783.

Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1973, 27, photo, 1^st Regiment of Foot Guards musician’s coat.

 

John Peebles, 21 and 22 August 1780 journal entries, Papers of Lt., later Capt., John Peebles of the 42nd. Foot (“The Black Watch”), 1776-1782; incl. 13 notebooks comprising his war journal, Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh; Cunninghame of Thorntoun Papers (GD 21/492), book #11, 16-21.

 

John U. Rees, “‘The Great Neglect in provideing Cloathing’: Uniform Colors and Clothing in the New Jersey Brigade During the Monmouth Campaign of 1778,” Military Collector & Historian, v. XLVI, 4. (Winter 1994), 165; v. XLVII, 1 (Spring 1995), 18 (World Wide Web), http://revwar75.com/library/rees/neglect1.htm and http://revwar75.com/library/rees/neglect2.htm.

 

John U. Rees, “‘Bugle Horns’, ‘conk shells’ and ‘Signals by Drum’: Miscellaneous Notes on Instruments and Their Use During the American War for Independence,” The Brigade Dispatch, v. XXVI, no. 4 (Winter 1996), 13-15

(World Wide Web), http://revwar75.com/library/rees/buglehorns.htm

 

Friedrich Wilhelm de Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States Part I. (Philadelphia, Pa.: Styner and Cist, 1779), 52, 64, 67-71, 90-93.

 

Hew Strachan, British Military Uniforms, 1768-96: The Dress of the British Army from Official Sources. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1975, musicians’ dress and instruments, 105, 139,

154, 159-161, 204-20.

 

2. Robert G. Athearn, The American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States, vol. III, “The Revolution” (New York, 1963), 202.
3. Bennett Culhbertson, Esq. A System for the Compleat Interior Management and Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry (Dublin, 1768), 12-13. Hugh Barty-King, The Drum (London, 1988), facing page 32, painting of Lord George Lennox and the 25th Regiment in Minorca in 1771 showing adult drummer and a fifer in the early or pre-teenage years. Painting attributed to Giuseppe Chiesa; also a discussion of British army drummer boys in the 18th century with two examples, one Joseph Brome who entered as a drummer boy at eight years of age (date unknown) and eventually became a lieutenant-general, and the other John Shipp who could not wait for his eighteenth birthday when he could be raised “to the ranks.” He was made a corporal immediately and eventually received a lieutenancy in the 87th Regiment of Foot. Barty-King also states that the normal age when boys were taken in as drummers was “between ten and twelve.” According to some inferences in this work it could be that the appellation of “drummer boy” was used for both fifers and drummers, 72-73.
4. Samuel Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees… The whole written (in part from a manuscript in the handwriting of Captain Dewees) and compiled by John Smith Hanna. (R. Neilson, Baltimore, 1844), 92-97, 125-126, 133-134, 138-152, enlistment and detached service; 148, some time between late summer of 1778 and spring of 1779 Dewees was serving as a waiter at Humpton’s private residence at Somerset Courthouse in New Jersey. He claimed that while he “homed” he “was dressed in a Fifer’s regimental coat and cap, with [a] horse or cow tail hanging thereon…”; 152-153, attack on Stony Point. Samuel Dewees’ pension file gives two different ages (57 years old in 1820 and 56 years old in 1818) for which reason he is not included in the age statistics of this study. A brief outline of his early services according to his memoirs is as follows: His father having been captured at Fort Washington in November of 1776 was released from prison in the beginning of 1777. Samuel Dewees was enlisted by his father as a fifer, in the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment commanded by Colonel Richard Humpton, being “about or turned of 15, but quite small of my age.” Dewees served in the fall of 1777 in a hospital at the “Brandywine meeting-house” (probably Birmingham Meetinghouse), at one point under the command of Captain George Ross, Jr. of the 11th Regiment, and remained on duty with the sick or was absent from the army until the spring of 1778. Following his return to the army at Valley Forge be rejoined the 11th Pennsylvania, became waiter to Colonel Humpton and again was detached from the army. In July of 1779 when he returned to his regiment he claimed to have been “one of the musicians attached to the detachment” which attempted to attack Stony Point, though General Anthony Wayne left “the musicians (or at least a portion of them) myself included in the number behind him.” Dewees says that this assault was not successful and he did not take part in the later successful assault on July 16th (hereafter cited as Dewees, History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees).

Nigel Reed, “The Voice of Experience.” This is an excellent article containing extracts from the memoirs of Samuel Dewees (a fifer in the Pennsylvania Line) with an intelligent discussion of their content.

5. Men in this study who played both the fife and drum during their service: John Scrouse,

Robert Jeff, and James Purdy, Lamb’s Artillery; William Walker, 1st New Jersey; David Jacobs,

Malcom’s Additional Regiment; James Kirkpatrick, 3rd New Jersey; Philip Reamer [Roemer], Malcom’s Additional and 11th Pennsylvania

6. Robert K. Wright, The Continental Army (Washington, D.C., 1983), contains a detailed narrative of organizational changes in the Continental Army.
7. General Orders, 22 January 1782 and Washington to William Heath, 22 January1782, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 17451799, vol. 23 (Washington, D.C., 1937), 456-457, 457-458.
8. Colonel Tobias Fernald to Maj. Gen. William Heath, April 1782, William Heath Collection, Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 24, item 285, published in The Express (Quarterly Publication of the Brigade of the American Revolution), vol. X, no. III (Winter 1990), Drummer’s Call, submitted by Henry Cooke, 2.
9. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (Boston, 1898), 694, George Derecoat; 800, Samuel Collamore, fifer, Col. Tupper’s 10th Regt., service from 1 Jan. 1782, reported appointed drummer 31 March1782.
10. Dewees, History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees, 331.

11.Thomas Lynch Montgomery, ed., Pennsylvania Archives, series 5, vol. III       (Harrisburg, 1906,) 644-662.)

12.Ibid., series II, vol. XV, list of Pennsylvania Pensioners of the Revolution, 1820.

13. , series 5, vol. III, 644-662.
14. , series II, vol. XV, 683-741, list of Pennsylvania Pensioners of the Revolution, 1820. Ibid., series 5, vol. III, 644-662.
15. , series II, vol. XV, 683-741, list of Pennsylvania Pensioners of the Revolution, 1820.
16. , series 5, vol. III, 644-662.
17. , series 5, vol. III, 644 to 662.
18. , series II, volume XV, 683-741, list of Pennsylvania Pensioners of the Revolution, 1820.