The origin of Taps has long been the stuff of legend. One story tells of a young soldier killed during a Civil War battle. His father, a Union officer, found his son’s body with the notes to a new bugle call written on a piece of paper tucked into his pocket. The Union commander, feeling deep sympathy for the father and his dead son, ordered the new bugle call played at the boy’s burial. The new call was so popular that it was soon used at the funeral of all fallen soldiers. The melody became known as Taps.
As lovely and moving as that story is, it is just a story. The true origin of Taps is a little more mundane, but interesting nonetheless.
Bugle Calls
The military has long has a tradition of using bugle calls to issue orders that have to be heard by large groups of soldiers. According to the Military Analysis Network article, "Bugle Calls" these calls were standard and were set down in military manuals, such as Silas Casey’s Tactics.
One of these calls was known as Extinguish Lights (Lights Out), also known as a Tatoo (possibly a corruption of the name of a Dutch army bugle call, Taptoe., which itself may come from the Dutch for "turn off the taps"). The Tatoo was used to recall soldiers from local pubs and tavern at the end of the evening.
Creation of the Modern Taps
According to bugler and bugle call history expert Jari Viilanueva, Union General Daniel Butterfield is credited with composing the final version of Taps.
Butterfield had set a precedent of using a separate call, written specifically for his unit. He would use this call to issue orders for just his unit and his call would precede the standard bugle calls. In this way, his brigade knew that the orders were for them alone. He found it quite useful since he could more easily control his unit over long distances.
In 1862, on an evening following the bloody Seven Days Battle outside of Harrison's Landing, Virginia, Butterfield was working on a call that would be a unique end to the day, one that he felt would be less formal and more appropriate for daily use. Using an earlier version of the Tatoo call, often referred to as the Scott Tatoo (after General Winfield Scott), Butterfield began to think about how to change it.
He summoned his bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, and handed him the notes to the call, asking him to play them. (Although Butterfield was able to play all the mandatory calls on the bugles, as required of all officers in that time, he could not read or write music.)
After listening to Norton play the notes, Butterfield had him change them, holding some longer, shortening others, and rearranging a few. When the men were finished they had a call that satisfied Butterfield. Norton performed the new call that night and each night after. The new call, initially called Extinguish Lights, was very popular and soon spread to other Union Army unites and, reportedly, to a few Confederate units as well.
Official Use of Taps at Funerals
The U.S. Army Infantry Drill Regulations for 1891 was the first official military publication to order the playing of Taps at military funerals, although was probably used well before that.
According Col. James A. Moss, in his Officer's Manual first published in 1911, Taps was used at a military funeral for the first time during Peninsular Campaign in Virginia. Captain John C. Tidball of Battery A, 2nd Artillery ordered that it be played at the burial for a soldier killed in action. Because the enemy was close by, Captain Tidball was worried that firing the traditional 3 volleys would start the fighting again. Instead of the rifle salute, he ordered the unit bugler to play Taps.
Other Ceremonies Using Taps
In addition to being played at military funerals, Taps is still sounded at most military installations as the last call of the day. It is also used for any ceremony that honors fallen service members, most notably the annual Veteran's Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery where the sitting President of the United States lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Lyrics to Taps
Although there are no official words to Taps, many lyrics have been written to the tune and there are numerous versions of the song. The first words set to the tune of Taps are thought to be, "Go To Sleep, Go to Sleep," but the most common verse used today is:
“Day is done, Gone the Sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, Safely rest.
God is nigh.”
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