Regimental Bands in the Civil War

Abstract

Marching Brass were new to musical scene at time of Civil War and they performed in ways that seem odd and out of tune with our times. Brass bands of that era were part of great shift from a to an urban/ industrial society. A prismatic society is analogous to an actual prism. Just as a prism is rotated slightly and a new color appears, so, too, in a prismatic society, behavior of individuals can shift and change without regard to situation at stake or expectation of others. It is a world of interactional surprises. People living in such a culture are simply not subject to role segmentation that makes life bearable in modern complex bureaucratized society. All of this means that prismatic enjoy a wide range of options in what roles they can play and how they can play them. It is this feature of prismatic circumstances of Civil War era that is reflected in culture and behavior of and musicians during that time, and wherein culture is a kaleidoscope that can suddenly take a different shape and content. The South was still rooted in this stage (Rip-2s). The North was farther along road to modernity, though it too retained much of prismatic ethos. In a prismatic society social institutions overlap: family norms mix with political usages, economic with religious, and so forth. In them individual behavior is volatile and unstable-shifting quickly from one institutional expression to others. During these fleeting years of transition, persons were free of stifling conformity demanded in a folk society, but not yet subject to constraints to emerge in modern organizational society. The impact of a prismatic environment can be reflected in all aspects of culture, including bands and music. This is so because all role performances are less scripted than in urban/organized world, and there is greater latitude for self-expression. Moreover, in prismatic world appearances are poor guidelines to behavior. In short, things may seldom be what they seem in a prismatic society. Thus, when Robert E. Lee referred to his Union foes as Those people rather than as the enemy it was more than just a Southern gentleman speaking, and his remark did not mean he was inclined to kill fewer Yankees. Lee was merely speaking prismatically. On other hand, when Sherman said, I will make Georgia howl, he meant precisely that. Similarly, when a thirteen year old bugle boy, who had been shot in head with an arrow, shot Indian who put it there and took his scalp, it was more than a kid playing cowboy and Indian. Likewise, when a Confederate Band marched onto battlefield at Gettysburg and entertained friend and foe with waltzes, polkas and two-- steps, it was not a crazy impulse, it was prismatic behavior (Leinbach). During pauses in battles, Yankee and Rebel would gather on opposite sides of a river and engage in battles of Bands after which they swapped coffee, sugar, tobacco, etc. moving goodies back and forth on little sail boats made for occasion (Furgurson). In prismatic world, any situation can be easily and quickly redefined as something quite different from what it started out to be. Thus, enemies can suddenly become friends, lines of advancing and defending troops can become an audience, a child can become a ruthless killer, all set to music of a Regimental Band. In prismatic communities, main differentiations are between very young and very old, and between males and females. Children are but miniaturized versions of larger and act as if they were grown-ups, just as in cases of thirteen year old scalper; or little girls who helped their mother, Rose Greenhow, in business of espionage; or twelve year old Fred Grant (later a General himself), who tagged along with his Dad, Ulysses, as he battled Rebel armies. At visual level, consider prismatic little in Images 1 and 2. …