Beat the Long Roll, Boys

     To help set the mood for my ACW project, I put together a playlist of fife and drum music from the Civil War.  Most of the tunes in the playlist are performed by California Consolidated Drum Band, which is well worth checking out.

     It seems that the songs of the Civil War (i.e. the vocal music) get the lion's share of attention, while the brass-band and fife-and-drum music is generally less well known, even though on the whole it seems to have had a more prominent role on the battlefield.  There are a number of colorful stories about regimental bands playing in the heat of action  (my favorite is about the band of the 32nd Indiana - composed largely of German revolutionaries - getting the regiment's dander up with the Marseillaise at Shiloh).  Given their psychological value on the field of battle, I'm hoping that the Perrys' impending expansion of their ACW range will include some bandsmen.