Interesting photo.

[John Legg]

Folks,

As i was replying to a thread about Chevrons on musicians, i noticed something cool.

Attachment 4942

If you look, there is a drummer changing one of his heads. This is the only time i have seen this in a period photo. Its pretty sweet!


What do you think? Anything else cool about this photo
Cheers,

John

Source: www.civilwarphotos.net

[pjdrums96]

If you also look at the fifer seated to the right, you can see that he appears to have a cheater on his fife. You really have to zoom in to catch that.

Patrick Jones
Camp Chase Fife and Drums

[JKfifer119]

also interesting to note that virtually none of those gentlemen appeared to be 10 years old ;-)

J korber

[John Legg]

Also there is a man in the far left door way. He appears to be trying to stab someone! I guess he thought it might be funny!

[33rdaladrummer]

This photo is at the library of congress. You can download a very high resolution scan at www.loc.gov (about 40 megs). What appears to be a fife mouthpiece I think is a brass coat button combined with a shadow or flaw in the print. While cheaters were definitely issued and used, I doubt a fifer would still be using one by the time he was in the veteran reserve corps. You can zoom in more with the loc image and take another look and see if you agree.

The 61st, among other New York regiments(photo also available at loc), had some "drummer boys". A couple look like they could be twelve years old. Someone could check the muster rolls, but they often lied about their ages. A good reference for information about underage musicians and non-musicians is Too Young to Die. Many of the drummers boys were sent home, especially if they had little in the way of musical talent, but some did serve through the war.

[billyreb61]

Great find!!! Many of the musicians also appear to be wearing a distinctive kepis.

[DJCasey]

Great photo. There is so much going on. It looks like the drum head he is replaceing ripped right through. I haven't seen that since my rock band days. The stringed instuments are interesting, too. Makes me wish I had an event where I could whip out my double bass...

[Kace]

I thought the four drum sticks stacked in a pyramid on the drum head near the left side of the picture was interesting. Really looks like they all are having a fun time posing for the picture.

Kace

[C.R. Henderson]

Also, if you look at the two gents seated towards each other on the bench on the left, they are practicing together. Some that I know could use more- including myself. The fellow changing the head isn't doing one but both. One of the new ones, he is holding up, the other is lying on the ground and his leg- why take out 35 feet of rope and not do both (if one goes, the other could be soon to follow.) What are the two small rings in the foreground?

[Civilian_Soldier]

What is the bass player doing with his hands. That is not the correct way to hold a bow. I wonder if he even knows how to play it.