ARMY’ BUGLE CALLS . u T
From an article by Oscar Luedtke, Band Leader, 55th Artillery Ft. ame ame a,
Almost lost in the mists of antiquity is the origin of our modern brass
instruments* The cow’s horn was the first bugle and in the Old Testamen hn s
tcrians find the first reference to it as a means of military signal.*., ihe
u_i,-e,~ tho \i* leaders like Joshua, fought to the strains of a trumpet band, and line
bls.~j.rg brass added roo a little to the discomfiture of their eneniie » wno wer^
net similarly equipped* The Greeks employed martial, music to encourage uhe.r v/ar
r: ors ar did the Romans long' before the days of Caesar*
-Tn the Middle Ages the Crusaders sang as they marched and whi.'.o mren men
tion of m usical in&tbuments of any kind is not made by the ancient chronicler*,
no doubt they were present, familiar as they were to most of the anights f on h?
hunting horn even then popularly used. It is said that the favorite marching
song of the warriors of Western Eurgpe who were intent on freeing the Hojy .•.ac^es
of the Christian faith from the heathen was sung to the air familiar to us as
Won’t be Horae Until Morning”. Certainly that tune is of great antiquity and is
known ±n practically every land.
The origin of some of the calls used today in the .American ^rmy
but most of the more familiar bugle signals were derived from Luropean armies
and adapted# "Tattoo” is the most elaborate of our calls# It consists of twenty*
eight measures, the first eight oi which are the French "Lights Out" and were
formerly played in our Army for Taps"; the rest of the measures were made up
from the 3ritish Infantry "Tattoo"*
"Tattoo" as a call can be traced back to the Thirty Years* War (1615-164 3)
when it nas established by Wallenstein. "Zapfenstreich" was the name given it )py
the soldiers and exactly describes the purposed of the call# It was the signal
for the end of the night's beer-drinking bouts and other revels of the troopers.
To insure this the Provost Marshal ”rouxd proceed to every sutler's oooth --the
equivalent of our canteens — to see to it that the bung (Zapfen) was in every
barrel. To make sure that they were not disturbed until his morningb call of
inspection, he would draw a chalk line (streich) over them. The sutler, next
morning, was subjected to heavy penalties if on scrutiny it was found that the
line had been disturbed. Our tern "Tatto" is a corruption of "Tap to" or closed .
and is obviously derived from circunstances similar to "Zapfenstreich"•
We retain the French Infantry ’Reveille";and "First Sergeant's Gall" is
taken from the German army signals. "Retreat" is of very ancient origin and is
one of the few calls known to have been used by the Crusaders. The oldest bugle
calls preserved in no'Ces are to be found in a coupusi'Gi on published in Antwerp
in 1545, "La Batailxe" by Jannequin, ^escribing the Battle of Hariganno in 1515.
Not a few of those ancient battle signals can be found at least reminiscently in
our calls of today.(Extract from an article in 'J.S.Anmy Recruiting News.)
HIGH MORALE:
The battalion of the Chasseurs d1 Afrique had been badly decimated at
Verdun and were granted a xen days* rest period behind the lines before coun
ter attacking to regain positions lost. As heavy casualties were expected
during the counter-attack, they were set to work, during uheir rest period,
digging graves in readiness for those who would fall in the contemplated en
gagement. On the ninth day a much decorated general officer rode up to the
battalion. ’’Well, major, I presume you are all in fine shape for the attack?"
he said* . •
"Certainement, mon genera]," replied the major, "We have dug our own
graves, and our morale is high."