According to E. Lawrence Abel (Singing the New Nation: How Music Shaped the Confederacy, 1861–1865), by the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, “[a] brass band was such an integral part of American culture that soldiers on each side felt their regiments and brigades were inferior if they did not have one. A brass band greatly enhanced the prestige of a military unit. Oftentimes officers paid for bands out of their own pockets. Band music lightened a march; it surged a soldier’s adrenaline before a battle; it rallied flagging spirits.” By 1862, there were an estimated four thousand musicians in the Union Army alone. It was also estimated there were an additional 150 regimental bands in the Confederate Army. The expense of having to maintain so many marching bands in the Union Army cost the Federal government an estimated four million dollars a year. The U.S. Congress finally had to pass a bill eliminating regimental bands and limiting the Army to one marching band per brigade (made up of three or four regiments). In response, many regiments self-funded their own bands made up of soldiers recruited for their musical abilities.
According to John Nicholas, Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park, “With fewer resources, the Confederate armies had fewer bands (than the Union). That did not mean Confederate soldiers were any less enthusiastic about music. General Jeb Stuart, was a connoisseur of music, and always ensured there were musicians at his headquarters and he sometimes went into battle accompanied by a banjo player (named Sam Sweeney). The band of the Stonewall Brigade was considered one of the best, if not the best band in Lee’s army. Many Moravian immigrants settled in Salem, North Carolina, and served in bands during the war; the best known of which was the 26th North Carolina band, which served at Gettysburg.”
The 26th NC band was noteworthy as well because their band books survive in the collections of the Moravian Music Foundation. They are the only known surviving complete set from a Confederate military marching band. According to Bob Baccus of the Olde Towne Brass Band (Huntsville, Ala.) there are six complete sets and a seventh partial set that contain “several hundred titles, representing a true cross-section of music played by both Union and Confederate bands. There are marches and quicksteps, ballads, waltzes and polkas, novelty tunes, patriotic airs, and chorales.” As you might expect, some tunes are associated with the Confederacy such as “Bonnie Blue Flag,” “26th Regiment Quickstep,” “Old North State,” “Maryland! My Maryland!,” “The Southern Victorial March,” and “Dixie’s Land.” Baccus noted, “One must recall that Dixie’s Land, while it came to be more closely associated with the South, was written by a Northerner from Ohio named Daniel Decatur Emmitt in 1859 and was popular across the country. It was also said to be a favorite of US President Abraham Lincoln and he had it played at political rallies.” The 26th NC band also played novelty tunes such as “Mister Here’s Your Mule” and “India Rubber Overcoat.” According to Baccus, “The last tune the band played before being taken as prisoners on April 5, 1865, was the sentimental ballad “Lorena.” They were imprisoned at Point Lookout, Md., for nearly three months; after their release, they returned to Salem, arriving on the afternoon of July 2, 1865.”
Bob Baccus and the Old Towne Brass Band recently played two concerts at Oaklands Mansion in Murfreesboro, Tenn., that featured a variety of different period military marches and patriotic airs. Baccus and the Olde Towne
Brass perform songs from Civil War marching bands, both North and South. In addition, several musicians play original Civil War period Over-The-Shoulder (OTS) brass horns. This lends excellent insight into what the music of the time period actually sounded like to listeners. Olde Towne Brass will be playing at the Battle of the Bands program at Stones River National Battlefield on October 17, 2020.
Craig L. Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina The (Charlotte). Craig served
Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy The Unfinished (2006, 2011), Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013) and three books (soon to be four) in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.