Union Bands  "The Power Of Music"

Morale was low in the Union Army of the Potomac in the winter of 1862-63 as the soldiers huddled around their fires in the muddy camps near Fredricksburg, VA. Morale was so low that the regimental bands were forbidden to play the songs "Home, Sweet Home" and "Auld Lang Syne" for fear that the woeful songs would cause spirits to plummet even deeper.

Music had a powerful effect on Civil War soldiers. The martial strains of military bands coupled with patriotic appeals and waving flags spurred thousands of young men to volunteer for military service. One young recruit called the band of the 8th New York "the gayest band I have ever seen. Their music fairly made me take the double shuffle right on the parade ground."

In the beginning months of the war, hundreds of company and regimental bands and thousands of bandsmen signed up for service in the Union armies. By the end of 1861 the government had to limit the number of bands to free more men to fight. It is believed that at least 500 bands and 9,000 bandsmen served in the Union army. Regulations called for 24 musicians in infantry and artillery bands and 16 in cavalry bands. The band instruments used were cornets, sax horns, alto horns, tenor horns, baritones, flat basses, side drums, base drums, and cymbals. Occasionally, such woodwind instruments as clarinets and piccolos were used.

Sometimes bands were ordered to play in the heat of battle to help keep up the morale of soldiers. At Dinwiddie Court House, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan ordered his bands to the firing line, to loudly play their best tunes, and to "never mind if a bullet goes through a trombone or even a trombonist now and then". Gen. Horace Porter saw one of Sheridan's bands under heavy fire, "playing Nellie Bly as cheerfully as if it were furnishing music for a country picnic."

Fascinating Fact:  Bandsmen had important duties other than playing for parades and serenading the troops. They served as stretcher-bearers and assisted surgeons with amputations and other surgeries in field hospitals.


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