The Well-dressed Trombonist - Under the Eagle

 

The America Bald Eagle has been the symbol of our nation since 1782 when Congress chose it for the design of the Great Seal of the United States. With wings spread wide, an eagle's talons grasp 13 arrows in its left foot and an olive branch with 13 leaves in its right. In its beak is a ribbon with the Latin phrase: E Pluribus Unum ("Out of many, one"). 

Great Seal of the United States
Source: Wikimedia

In 1775 during the Revolutionary War, General George Washington had his officers display cockades on their hats to distinguish their rank. Initially he wanted these decorative knots of ribbons or rosettes in different colors so that "the field officers may have red or pink colored cockades in their hats, the captains yellow or buff, and the subalterns green.” But by 1777 his ragged army from the 13 colonies changed to using a simple black cockade, which, not by chance, happened to be the Hanoverian color of King George III.

In February 1778 the United States signed a Treaty of Alliance with France. Since the color favored by the French King Louis XVI was white, Washington ordered his soldiers to display a new Alliance Cockade on their hats that was black with a white center. The supporting French troops likewise wore an Alliance Cockade of white with a black center.

When George became President in 1789 among his many new responsibilities was deciding on appropriate uniform colors and insignia for the U.S. military. The old black cockades wouldn't work since that were still a British army style. The white on black was similarly politically incorrect since France had adopted a new tricolor of  blue, white and red as a symbol of its recent revolution. (Poor Louis XVI tried to wear one but it didn't really suit his hat.) 

To solve this fashion problem some clever Americans came up with an easy solution that Washington approved—putting an eagle pin onto the center of a black rose cockade. On 9 January 1799 his Secretary of War, James McHenry, ordered "All persons belonging to the army, to wear a black cockade, with a Small white Eagle in the centre. The cockade of non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates, to be of leather, with Eagles of tin." 

This pin depicted an eagle with down-swept wings sitting on a bank of clouds. That design lasted hardly more than a decade when in 1812 it was changed to suit another war with King George III, this time adding arrows and an olive branch to the eagle. In 1821 it was reworked again by removing the clouds and setting the eagle with outstretched wings and a shield on its breast. With only small alterations, over the next two centuries that eagle design became the standard insignia worn by officers and troops in the U. S. Army. My dad wore one on his hats during his 25 year career as an army officer.

  

Today, in honor of the 250th anniversary of America's Declaration of Independence I present a collection of eagles worn by bandsmen, mostly trombonists, who served in regimental bands. The bandsmen also wear a pointy headgear that for a few decades in the late 19th century was the fashionable helmet used by most military bands and troops. 

My first trombonist posed in a photographer's studio leaning casually on a fine upholstered chair in front of a painted scene with weird perspective. It's a half-plate tintype, more correctly called a ferrotype, about 6¼ x 4½ inches, an uncommon  size that's larger than other tintypes of musicians in my collection. His dark color uniform, I'm guessing maroon red, has a cut-away jacket adorned with three rows of brass buttons. His hat is a style resembling British police helmets called custodian helmets first used by the London Metropolitan Police in 1870. 

Since this photo is a tintype it is a unique image that could not be reproduced. Light captured by the collodion emulsion on an iron plate created a reversed image like a mirror. Sharp eyes might have noticed that this man's button seam is on the wrong side and he seems to be holding a left-handed trombone. 

   

Flipping the image with digital software puts the instrument in its proper orientation, bell on left shoulder and slide on right. It also puts the eagle's arrows on the correct side of the insignia. I'm not sure about the cord hanging from his helmet. It may be a chin strap released for the photo. He looks like a young man in his early 20s or even late teens. Notice the photographer has tinted his cheeks pink. I bet it made his mother proud.

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* * * * *

This next photo is a cabinet photo of two bandsmen and a soldier, all wearing pointy helmets with white plumes. There is no mark for photographer or location. All I can guess is they are members of a state militia band somewhere in the United States in the late 19th century. Such bands were made of professional musicians who were hired as a group to perform for a state guard regiment's annual training camps and civic parades. The bandsmen did not serve in the regular army and were paid by each regiment. In 19th century America the most popular entertainment in every town or city was a parade. Any opportunity to rally around the flag and march along with a band excited the public. Regimental bands competed with each other to provide the best music and present the most splendid uniforms.

The two bandsmen play brass instruments and the one seated on the right holds a piston valve instrument with a large bell. The plumbing looks long enough to be a kind of folded up valve trombone. It might be a flugelhorn or bass trumpet, but for the purpose of my theme I'll call it a trombone. I'm sure it sounded the same notes. 

The bandsman on the left has a standard cornet, possibly the higher E-flat model. Their uniforms are very ornate with striped trousers, fancy embroidery and fringed epaulettes. There is a subtle nod to the Grand Seal of the United States as their button embroidery are leaves with thirteen points.

The soldier standing guard in the center is an unusual addition to this trio. Except for his pointy helmet, his unform is very different. He wears a longer coat with white gloves and holds a rifle with a long bayonet fixed to the end. I would not want to be challenged by him for the password of the day.

* * *
* * * * *
* * * * *

This bandsman's portrait is an unusual long 7½ x 4¼ inch Promenade mount but, like the previous photo, has no name of the photographer. The expanded size would have been suitable for a regular slide trombone but this fellow has a stubby piston valve trombone like the previous unknown bandsman. He cuts a fine figure with his trim uniform jacket which has three rows of buttons, a wide white belt and fringed epaulettes.

Piston valve trombones were popular in the 19th century as three valves simplified a traditional trombone's slippery slide system of infinite pitch. Different makers came up with several compact plumbing patterns which made the instrument easier to play while marching in a parade or mounted on a horse. 

According to my copy of the Encyclopedia of United States Army Insignia and Uniforms by William K. Emerson, his helmet eagle is a design from 1881 which added a banner in the eagle's beak. The shield would typically have the regiment's number. His helmet plume was white horsehair and on a detachable mount.

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* * * * *
* * * * *

This next bandsman is another member of the three valved trombone society. He is seated with a casual crossed leg, fingers on the valve buttons, looking direct at us as if to ask, "Have we met before?" His uniform is similar to the previous bandsmen's kit though this man's epaulette fringe seems longer and he wears a white cross-sash belt, attached to which is a small satchel marked HOLYOKE.  His eagle is looking left not right, so I think it pre-dates the previous bandsman, maybe late 1870s. I think he uses a softer conditioner on his plume too. He looks like an affable chap who could tell a good story.

The photographer on this cabinet card photo has an imprint on the back, J. D. Crane Photographic Studio, of No. 63 Dwight St., Holyoke, Massachusetts. Duplicates can be had at any time.  

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* * * * *
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My final trombonist under the eagle is pictured on a tintype, in a more typical 3¾ x 2¼ inch format. He wears a white coat with three rows of buttons and lots of gold braid knots, simple shoulder boards instead of fringe epaulettes, and a custodian helmet with a point but without a plume. This photo is fairly dark like most tintypes, but my digital software improves the contrast. His instrument is a B-flat tenor slide trombone which has hardly changed from the sackbut, the trombone's Renaissance ancestor, and remains the same as trombones seen in today's modern bands and orchestras. 

As I often do with tintypes, I reverse the image to the subject's true aspect. This places his trombone in the right orientation but it also revealed a very important detail that was not visible in the other bandsmen's photos. 

It's a number on the eagle.

A regiment number more significant

in the history of American bands
than any other number.

The number is 22, which makes this trombonist a member of one of the most celebrated professional bands of the 19th century, the Band of the Twenty Second Regiment of New York. It was lead by Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (1829–1892), an Irish-American composer and military bandmaster who immigrated to Boston in 1848. As a young man he established himself as a talented musician and bandleader with a variety of bands. In 1861 at the start of the Civil War, Gilmore's Band joined the 24th Massachusetts Volunteers, accompanying General Ambrose Burnside to North Carolina and later playing for Federal troops in New Orleans. He is credited with writing the lyrics to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Gilmore expanded a concert band instrumentation to include a larger woodwind section that made his band sound more like an orchestra. 

Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (1829–1892)
Bandleader of the 22nd Regiment Band, c. 1890−92
Source: Wikimedia

After the war Patrick Gilmore organized massed orchestra and band concerts  with gigantic choruses for the National Peace Jubilee in 1869 and the World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival in 1872. His success in Boston established him as the leading bandmaster of the postwar era. 

In 1873 Gilmore was invited to New York City to take over the band of the 22nd Regiment. This regiment was one of the premier elite state guards which was supported by many wealthy New York families. The band was its public image and with Gilmore it soon became known as "Gilmore's Band." 

Brooklyn Daily Times
21 March 1874

In New York the 22nd Regiment Band competed with fine bands from the 23rd and 7th Regiments. Band concerts were regular features in New York's society season and regimental bands offered a wide variety of music and solo artists. On one concert in March 1874 Gilmore promoted his friend, the great cornetist Matthew Arbuckle (1828–1883), and the saxophone virtuoso Edward A. Lefebre (1834–1911) who introduced New Yorkers to this new novel French instrument. He also had a trombone soloist, Herr Letsch on the same program.

Yonkers, NY Gazette
5 February 1881

 

Many instrumentalists in Gilmore's 22nd Regiment Band earned star billing on his programs and became as well known in New York's entertainment world as stage actors or opera singers. In a concert performed in February 1881 Gilmore listed a trombone soloist named C. Kappa. This was Carlo Alberto Cappa (1834–1893), an Italian-American trombonist who would go on to become a bandmaster in his own right. He is best remembered for leading the celebrated Seventh Regiment Band of New York which I recently featured on this blog in The Seventh Regiment Band, 

Rochester, NY Journal & Post Express
18 September 1883

In September 1883 at a concert in Rochester, New York, Gilmore listed another solo trombonist named Herr Stolz. These regimental bands attracted talented musicians from many nations like Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, and Great Britain. Gilmore's choice of the best soloists helped accelerate the growth of band music in America, especially because these bands also toured the country performing at expositions and state fairs. And everywhere they went, the band marched in a parade.

The Seventh Regiment Band on March
Harper's Weekly, vol. 33, 16 March 1889
Source: HathiTrust.org

This illustration from a March 1889 article in Harper's Weekly shows the Seventh Regiment Band marching on parade. The bandsmen wear tall white helmets with dark plums and dark tunics. The trombone section is in the front rank as their drum major leads the way. The postcard photo in my recent story on The Seventh Regiment Band was taken in 1905 when the band's uniforms, though still brilliant. had changed with the fashions of a new century. By 1900 guard regiments had replaced the pointy custodian helmet with more practical headgear. But for a time it was where the American eagle soared, sparkling atop the heads of spectacular marching bands. 

I will finish this collection of vintage trombonists
with a 2022 performance by the trombone section
of the United States Air Force Band with guest artist
George Curran, bass trombonist of the New York Philharmonic
in a Henry Fillmore's circus screamer, "Rolling Thunder".

And since I post this story on the 4th of July,
it seems fitting to hear the trombone quartet
of The United States Army Field Band
perform the "The Star-Spangled Banner" our national anthem.
It was  arranged by bass trombonist Master Sgt. Wesley Ballenger. 

Please stand.

For more trombonists wearing pointy hats
and fancy uniforms check out:

The Well-Dressed Trombonist
The Well-dressed Trombonist - Valve and Plume Edition
More Tinplated Brass, the Uniform Edition

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where London bridges can sometimes fall up, too.

You Should Have Been There

As I pointed out last weekend in
Music for Flag Day 

it's a general rule that

outdoor photos of town bands

come in two types –

bunches or lines.
Last week's unknown band was a line. 

Today I offer a brass band posed in a bunch.

or to use the technical term,

a clump. 

The photographer has taken care
to get good light,
placing the fifteen bandsmen
and one mascot,
on a shady slope in a grove of trees.

As noted in a caption on the photo postcard
and on the bass drum
they are the Elizabeth Band
of Elizabeth, Illinois.
 

The card was sent to
Miss Olive Nash
of Stockton, Ill.

                        Sun. Oct. 1, 1911.

                        Dear Olive   Rec'id your
                        last card Thurs A.M.;
                        when I was waiting for
                        the excursion train,
                        You were mistaken about
                        me not having a hat
                        on, in that picture; I
                        am at the other side of
                        the picture with a black
                        hat on.  On the other
                        side of this card is a
                        picture of the Elizabeth
                        Band ! !  The little darling
                        in the middle of the
                        picture, who has no hat or
                        uniform on, is myself.    ↩

                                        I have, also, four brothers in
                                        in the picture, so you see, it
                                        is well worth keeping! (?)
                                        We intended to come up to that
                                                                        ball game
                                        today, but the immortal gods
                                        have upset our plans.  Maybe
                                        there will be another to go to, soon.    ↩

 

                                                            We saw Clara, Naomi and a 
                                                            Miss Cook at the Fair.  You
                                                            should have been there and     ↩

                                                                            got a Merry-Go-Round ride.

                                                                            We may be up to leave some 
                                                                            candy at the schoolhouse
                                                                            for you some sunday.  What other
                                                                            girls have you at school that Ross 
                                                                            or Bert could give candy to?     ↩
                                                                                                            Sherm W.     ↩

                                                                                        This card is in
                                                                                        one of my 
                                                                                        classy
                                                                                        envelopes

Elizabeth, Illinois is a village 150 miles west of Chicago on the way to Dubuque, Iowa, about 10 miles east of the Mississippi River. In 1910 it had a population of around 703 citizens, a bit more than its current population of 694. The village was the site of the Apple River Fort, a frontier fortification built by settlers during the 1832 Black Hawk War. During a fierce battle with  warriors from the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes, a pioneer woman named Elizabeth Armstrong, rallied the other settlers to fight back. Afterwards the community decided to honor her bravery by naming the village Elizabeth. 

Which four bandsmen were Sherm's brothers?

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where sometimes no one
is really sure what's going on.

Music for Flag Day

 

As a general rule
outdoor photos of town bands
come in two types –
bunches or lines.
The musicians might be arranged
in an orderly or haphazard fashion,
depending on the fastidiousness
of the photographer or the leader of the group,
but it's still either rows or clumps of people.

My favorites are vintage photos of small bands
which assembled near a residential home.
    It adds an element of time and place
which is absent in photos of a band
posed in front of a stone wall or park bandstand.

Most photographs of this kind
were taken on special occasions,
often on a summer's day
when the band's musicians wore
their best uniforms.
If the light was good
and the camera well focused
it becomes a portrait of individuals
as well as of an ensemble. 

This brass band of thirteen players
chose to stand in a line for their group photo.
They are on the grassy lawn of a large two-story house
built in a 19th century style called "Steamboat Gothic"
with a grand porch accentuated by fancy turned posts,

spandrels, balustrades, and millwork brackets.
The musicians are of various ages 
with a handful of boys and girls in their teens.
Their caps and uniform coatss are decent quality with 

braided knots on the cuffs and around the buttons.  
Standing center on the porch behind them
is an older man, age 60+,  holding an American flag.

This large albumen photo, mounted on card stock 11 x 10 inches,
has no photographer's imprint to identify where it was taken.
However neatly written on the back
are the names of the band's musicians. 

I believe the names top to bottom correspond
to the players left to right since the only female names
for the two girls are Lynn and Edd.

• Harry Reynolds
• Neil Reynolds
• Lloyd Hill
• Lynn Hill
• Martin Wilder
• Edd Brown
• William Schade
• August Hinz
• Percy Townsend
• Semore Reynolds
• Ola Higbee
• Grover Johnson
• John Johnson
• Arron Holben  Holding flag

Despite my best efforts searching for these names
in Ancestry.com and newspaper archives
I've been unable to find the solution to the puzzle
of where they are standing.
The names are just too common.

And so, for now anyway, this small town band
must otherwise remain unknown. 
My best guess as to its date is roughly late 1890s to early 19o0s.

But that flag is a hint that this photo
commemorates a holiday concert by the band.

It might be May 30th, Memorial Day,
once known as Decoration Day.
Of it could be July 4th, Independence Day,
commonly called the Fourth of July.

But I think is might be June 14th, Flag Day,
the day set aside to honor the adoption
of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. 

Storm Flag raised at Fort Sumter
Source: Wikipedia

Flag Day was first proposed in 1861
not long after the attack by Confederate forces
on Fort Sumter, the island fortress which guarded 
the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.  

On 13 April 1861, after a relentless bombardment,
Fort Sumter's Federal Army commander, Major Robert Anderson,
was compelled to lower Fort Sumter's flag and surrender.
Thus began four years of America's terrible Civil War. 

I will let Fort Sumter's flag's Wikipedia entry tell the rest of the story:

Anderson brought the flag to New York City for an April 20, 1861, patriotic rally, where it was flown from the equestrian statue of George Washington in Union Square. More than 100,000 people thronged Manhattan's Union Square in what was, by some accounts, the largest public gathering in the country up to that time. The flag was then taken from town to town, city to city throughout the North, where it was frequently "auctioned" to raise funds for the war effort. Any patriotic citizen who won the flag at auction was expected to immediately donate it back to the nation, and it would promptly be taken to the next rally to repeat its fundraising magic. The flag was a widely known patriotic symbol for the North during the war.

On April 14, 1865, four years and one day after the surrender and as part of a celebration of the Union victory, Anderson (by then a retired and sickly major general), raised the flag in triumph over the battered remains of the fort. Author Shelby Foote quotes Anderson as saying, "I thank God that I have lived to see this day," as he took the flagpole's halyards in his hands.

The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was the principal orator at the 1865 celebration, and gave a lengthy speech, as was the custom of the day. He said in conclusion:

"On this solemn and joyful day, we again lift to the breeze our fathers’ flag, now, again, the banner of the United States, with the fervent prayer that God would crown it with honor, protect it from treason, and send it down to our children.... Terrible in battle, may it be beneficent in peace [and] as long as the sun endures, or the stars, may it wave over a nation neither enslaved nor enslaving.... We lift up our banner, and dedicate it to peace, Union, and liberty, now and forevermore." — Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

Later that night President Lincoln would be shot at Ford's Theatre.

 

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Flag Day was never a big celebration in the United States since it was initially scheduled in June boxed in-between larger more memorable patriotic holidays. But some states, mainly in the north, did continue this tradition of honoring our flag's anniversary on 14 June. While I can't confirm that this little brass band's photo is connected to this holiday, there is no evidence that it isn't either. So let's pretend that long ago Major Anderson's flag inspired Uncle Holben to join the fight to protect the Union and our flag. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where parades only work 

if everyone marches in the same direction.

The Ship's Musician

 

Some call it a life ring or a lifebuoy. 
Other names better describe its purpose,
a life-preserver or a life-saver.

But no matter what you call it,
everyone onboard a boat or ship
should know where it is and when to use it.

Your life may depend on it.

Royal Navy Protected cruiser H.M.S. Doris, circa 1910
Source: Wikimedia

This lifebuoy came from the H.M.S. Doris, one of nine second-class protected cruisers of the Eclipse-class built for Britain's Royal Navy in the mid-1890s. A protected cruiser had only an armored deck and was a lighter version of an armored cruiser which was protected by armored plate on both the deck and the ship's belt, i.e. the hull sides. I'll skip over the distinction between the other battlecruisers, heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and scout cruisers.  

Construction of the Doris, the fourth ship of the Eclipse-class, began on 29 August 1894 at the naval shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England and was completed on 18 November 1897. Six of the nine Eclipse protected cruisers were finished that same year.

Royal Navy Eclipse class cruiser diagrams
from "Brassey's Naval Annual" 1896
Source: Wikimedia

The ship was 350 ft (106.7 m) long with a beam of 53 ft 6 in (16.3 m) and displaced 5,600 long tons (5,690 t). Its twin propellers were powered by two triple-cylinder vertical engines which used steam supplied by 8 coal-fired boilers. The engines were capable of 8000 horsepower, giving the Doris a top speed of 18.5 knots. Its normal stockpile of coal was 550 tons, but there was reserve capacity for almost twice as much fuel at 1075 tons. The ship also had two masts for sail rigging, though I don't know how often, if at all, sails were used. Perhaps it was insurance for an emergency if the steam engines should fail.

As seen in this schematic of Eclipse-class cruisers, H.M.S. Doris positively bristled with guns on all sides of the ship. As originally built it had five 6-inch (152 mm) quick-firing guns, six 4.7-inch guns, six 3-pounder guns, and three 18-inch torpedo tubes. In 1905 it was refitted with six more 6-inch guns and nine 12-pounder guns in order to reduce the number of different size munitions. 

The ship's complement originally consisted of 393 officers and sailors, though, like most ships, this varied over time depending on its assignments. The reason for my interest in the H.M.S. Doris is that I found a postcard featuring just one serviceman from the cruiser. He was described as the ship's musician.

His instrument is not one usually associated with a navy, or the sea, for that matter.

He is a Scottish piper wearing full highland dress with feathered Glengarry hat, jacket, cross belt, plaid, kilt, dirk, sporran, stockings, and buckled brogues, not to mention a set of bagpipes too. The piper stands on the bottom step of a removable set of stairs that lead to a very odd, short doorway on the ship. 

From what little I have been able to discover, it was not uncommon in earlier times to have a piper assigned to a warship in the British Navy. It was likely a choice of the captain, who was presumably Scottish, to add musical color to the ship's daily rituals. Usually bugle players and drummers were used on warships as their sound could carry in the heat of battle and convey orders from the commander. In the age of sail a ship's musicians was often a fiddler who played tunes that helped the sailors toiling at a capstan while pulling lines or weighing anchor. I imagine a piper could do the same on a battleship whenever the crew was hauling coal or heavy rigging.

But compared to bugle calls I'm not sure the sound of bagpipes triggers the same level of warrior zeal in sailors, though its squeal can be pretty bloodcurdling. At least when played with gusto. 

This colorful postcard of the H.M.S. Doris, 2nd Class Cruiser shows the ship on a placid teal sea. The Doris did service during the Second Boer War (1899 – 1902) and later joined the Channel Fleet. In WW1 it was sent to the Mediterranean as part of the Allied forces opposing Turkey. In 1915 it was part of the naval support for the attack on the Gallipoli peninsula. From March 1917 to November 1918, the Doris was stationed in India, where she served as a hulk–a floating troops barracks. Following the end of the war, in February 1919 she was sold for scrap in Mumbai.

This postcard was sent from Weymouth, England to Mr. A. Slade, a Porter (?) in Chipping, Sodbury, England. The postmark is unclear but the green, half-penny stamp of King Edward VII puts it sometime pre- WW1.   

                                                        2 Charles St

                                Dear A.  Many thanks for P.C
                                I was surprised to hear of your
                                being at C. Sodbury, and am
                                glad you are on alright.
                                Are you going to have a trip
                                down here in the summer.
                                No doubt you have heard I am
                                back at Weymouth again. Hoping
                                you are quite well  I remain yours truly
                                                                            Jezlipr (?)

As I was preparing this short post I discovered a colorized version of the Ship's Musician from H.M.S. Doris, so I bought it. An unknown artist has given the piper's uniform beautiful detail, bringing out his tartan's color. But I can't decide which unit he is from, the two black tassels and green plaid are either the Gordon Highlanders or the Seaforth Highlanders. Or maybe some other clan. To be honest, Scottish plaids look like camouflage to me as it makes my eyes blur. However until I saw this colorized image I had not noticed the photo bombers in the picture.  

So what did the piper play on H.M.S. Doris? Did he perform regular hours or only on special occasions? Where did he practice? The sound of the pipes likely could be heard from ship's bilge to its crows nest. And how did he keep his kit clean? I don't think wool and seawater are a good mix.

But unlike the other sailors who needed to keep track of all the lifebuoys on the ship, a piper had the benefit of carrying his own personal flotation device.   

To best demonstrate Scottish bagpipes
here are two young Scots playing pipes and drum  
at a farmers market in Perth, Perthshire. 

The player blows air into the pipe bag
through a mouthpipe that has a small flap valve
where it connects to the bag. 

It is the pressure from the left arm on the bag
that propels the air to vibrate the reeds
of the chanter and drones.

It is not easy. 

For more pictures of pipers,
all sober and landlocked,
check out
The Sinister Piper
Four Well-dressed Pipers
The Piper and the Auld Brig o'Earn

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where boating safety is always first.