Dear Readers, Edward C. Iberger of Riverhead, N.Y.,
submitted this touching story of how "Taps," played at military funerals,
originated:
It all began in 1862, during the Civil War, when a Union Army captain, Robert
Ellicombe, was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was
on the other side of this narrow strip of land.
During the night, Capt. Ellicombe heard the moan of a soldier who lay mortally wounded
on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the captain decided to
risk his life and bring back the stricken man for medical attention.
Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the captain reached the soldier and began
pulling him back toward his encampment. When the captain finally reached his own lines, he
discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.
The captain lit a lantern, suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the
dim light of the lantern he saw the face of the soldier ... it was his own son! The young
man had been studying music in the South when the war broke out, and without telling his
father, he had enlisted in the Confederate Army.
The following morning, the heartbroken father asked permission of his supervisors to
give his son a full military burial, despite the young man's enemy status. The captain's
request was partially granted.
He asked if he could have a group of army band members play a dirge for his son at the
funeral. His request was refused since the soldier was a Confederate. Out of respect for
the captain, they said they could loan him one musician. He chose the bugler. The captain
asked him to play a series of musical notes found in the pocket of the dead youth's
uniform. This wish was granted. That music was the haunting bugle melody we now know as
"Taps."
Reprinted from "Dear Abby," Oakland Press, November 11, 1997. |