A US Army bugler playing Taps at a burial service at Arlington National Cemetery, 28 January 2009, for former Sergeant Major of the Army William Bainbridge. A lone bugler in uniform playing amidst snow-covered cemetery headstones.
30 May 2022
The bugle dirge that signals “lights out” and is used at funerals in the US military is called Taps. But the name Taps predates the creation of the bugle call we know today. At the end of the day, the bugle would sound Tattoo, and shortly afterward, usually about fifteen minutes, the call Extinguish Lights would be sounded. Extinguish Lights consisted of the first few bars of Tattoo, followed by several isolated beats on a drum—hence the name Taps.
The bugle call we know today as Taps is a variation of an earlier bugle call, the Scott Tattoo, named for General Winfield Scott. Tradition has it that Taps was arranged in 1862 by Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield. Its first use during military funerals was also in 1862, when, being in a combat zone, it was deemed unwise to fire the traditional volleys of gunfire over the grave. Taps was sounded instead, and the custom quickly spread.
But Taps could be beat at other times; it was simply the name for isolated beats on a drum. For instance, there is this list of drum signals from US Army regulations of 1812:
The Signals
Adjutant’s call. First part of the troop.
First sergeant’s call. One roll and three flams.
All non-commissioned officers’ call. Two rolls and five flams.
To go for wood. Poing stroke and ten-stroke roll.
To go for water. Two strokes and a flam.
To go for provisions. Roast beef.
Front to halt. Two flams from right to left, a full drag with the right, a left hand flam and a right hand full drag.
For the front to advance quicker. The long march.
For the front to march slower. The taps.
For a fatigue party. The pioneers’ march.
For the church call. The parley.
And from the same source, this reference to taps being played at the beginning of the day:
At the first appearance of day, the officer of the guard will cause the taps to be given on the orderly drum; the musicians will assemble on the parade; and in five minutes after the taps have been given, they will commence the reveillé; every officer and soldier will instantly rise; so soon as it is finished, the rolls shall be called.
The use of taps to signal lights out dates to at least 1824, as this regulation from the US Military Academy at West Point shows:
At thirty minutes after reveille, each superintendent will visit and inspect every room in his division, noticing particularly the state of police, and all infractions of regulations, and report to the officer in command of the barrack in the following form, viz:
I certify that I have carefully and thoroughly inspected the rooms of my division (N.B. or S.B.) at the taps last evening, and thirty minutes after reveille this morning, and that I have reported all infractions of regulations, and such rooms as are not in good order.
______ ______,
Superintendent Division, S.B.It is his duty, in the event of noise, scuffling, or any improper conduct whatever, to repair instantly to the spot, order the parties to their rooms, and forthwith make report of the circumstances to the commandant of the barrack, or, in his absence, to the officer of the week; to visit his rooms, at the taps; see that the lights are extinguished; the fires properly secured; the occupants present, and in bed.
It's difficult to pinpoint when exactly Taps switched from a drum signal to a bugle call. There are many references to Taps in 1862 and 1863, but most are ambiguous as to the instrument used. But there is this description of a night patrol leaving camp in Harper’s Weekly of 18 April 1863 where the use of the verb blew indicates that Taps is a bugle call:
I thought it darker that it had ever seemed before as our little party stole quietly out of camp before tattoo, and felt our way down to the river. In a leaky boat, two at a time, we managed to cross, the noise of the skiff in the water sounding to our ears all the time as if it must be audible at least five miles; and just as taps blew, dismissing the rest of the regiment to bed, we started to leave it, perhaps forever.
Sources:
“Condition of the Military Academy at West Point” (21 February 1824). Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, from the First Session of the Sixteenth to the Second Session of the Eighteenth Congress, Inclusive, vol. 2. Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1834. 656. Google Books.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. tap, n.2.
Regulations for the Field Exercise, Manœuvres, and Conduct of the Infantry of the United States. Philadelphia: Fry and Kammerer, 1812, 175–76, 205. HathiTrust Digital Archive.
“Stealing a March.” Harper’s Weekly, 18 April 1863. HathiTrust Digital Archive.
Audio credit: US Army. Public domain recording.
Photo credit: US Army, 2009. Public domain image.