The Birth of Taps

From the November 8, 2019 Chicago Tribune  "Touching notes"

Bugles were first used by American armies during the American Revolution.

"Bugles were the way orders were communicated before there were electronic means," says bugler Tom Day.  "There were bugle calls to move to the left, move to the right, charge, fall back.  The bugler was right there with the commander sending the call."

Then, in 1862, during the Civil War, a new bugle call was established.  General Daniel Butterfield was in command of Union troops at Harrison's Landing in Virginia.  There was a tradition of firing a cannon at the end of the day to honor the fallen from that day's battles.

But General Butterfield didn't want to fire the cannon and give away his troops' location so he asked the bugler to play a tune he'd heard in France.  That bugler was Oliver Willcox Norton and he listened to the tune and wrote down the 24 notes and played them for the troops for the first time.

Other buglers began playing the tune, which is now known as "Taps" to mark the end of the day.  Although, there are some variations on the origin of "Taps" this is the best one.

"Taps" are still played on military bases for "lights out."

--Old SecTap