Oliver Willcox Norton and "Taps"-- Part 1: He Played It First

I wrote about him in yesterday's post.

From Find-A Grave.

OLIVER WILLCOX NORTON

Birth:  17 December 1839   Angelica, New York

Death:  1 October 1920 aged 80    Cremated and ashes spread by his family.

He was teaching in West Springfield, Pennsylvania, when the war began and resigned and joined Co. K of the 83rd Pennsylvania as a private on September 1, 1861.  He was wounded at Gaines Mill, Virginia, on June 27, 1862.

Mr. Norton  likely had no idea the impact he had on the military, both its nightly routine and in honoring those who gave their lives.

That moment came when, as a the company bugler, he played a variation of a Scottish tattoo that would become known as "Taps."

--Old SecTaps