. We've heard some re-enactor groups didn't think drummers were integral or that important. . Maybe because we have a drummer, we'd like to brag a little bit. . We are the Captain George Mercer Company of the Virginia Regiment of 1755-1757. Our Captain becomes a Lt Col under Colonel William Byrd III of the 2nd VA Regiment in 1758. .
. But back to our Drummer. We have one !!! . So, What's the big deal about Drummers? . They were equivalent to the modern radio men communicating orders, especially in battle.
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And of course the different drum beats governed camp and barrack life. . Did the Virginia Regiment really have drummers? . Yes. 15 Drummers. And they got paid 2 pence more than the Private.
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Colonel George Washington wanted 2 drummers for every company but instead ended up with only one per company. Only one company had 2 drummers.
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Captain Mercer's Company had 2 drummers. Even Captain Christopher Gist's Scout company had a drummer. . See source: https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1756-10-09&s=1111311111&r=1
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Below are quoted excerpts from the following link: . https://earlycanadianhistory.ca/2016/02/22/drums-bugles-and-bagpipes-in-the-seven-years-war/ .
. Drummers 2 Percent of the Army? .
. In 1757, the British Secretary of War Lord Barrington ordered the raising of a Highland Battalion “which is to Consist of Ten Companies of Four Serjeants, Four Corporals, Two Drummers, and One Hundred Effective Private Men in each Company, besides Commission Officers…”[2] . The recommended number of drummers was higher, as Langley’s manual from 1794 suggests that there should be one drummer for each company of thirty privates, three officers, two sergeants, and three corporals, or approximately 2.56% of each company.[4]
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The chart show the Virginia Regiment as of 9 October 2018.
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See source in link below:
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Notice in the link below that Captain George Mercer had 2 drummers, while the other companies had one drummer. Even Christopher Gist's scout company had a drummer.
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Source is:
. Drums amplified the Commands .
Duke of Cumberland’s 1757 Exercise of the Foot, each procedure is categorized by its “word of command” and corresponding drumbeat. The orders of “Bayonets to be fixed,” “Shoulder,” “take post in battalion,” “first caution,” “recover your arms,” “to the Right-about,” “march,” “halt,” “order your arms,” and “take care to perform the manual exercise,” are conveyed variously through a “roll upon the drum,” a “flam on the drum,” “a ruffle of the Drum,” or “a troop” on the drum.[1] . Replacements a Necessity:
They served such an important link in the chain of command that it was crucial they be replaced when lost in action. On the New York frontier, Colonel Johnathan Bagley wrote on November 27th, 1755 to William Johnson to “Send Up [a] Good Drum[m]er” to fill the position of Drum Major, and “if to be had” two more drummers.[6] . Johnson’s correspondence indicates numbers of British casualties in battle, including a number of “missing” drummers.[7] . Not only personnel, but equipment had to be replaced after falling to the enemy. Nathan Whiting reported to Johnson on October 28th 1755 that his regiment lost seven guns, four swords, four horns, and one drum in the Lake Champlain region to the French and their Indigenous allies.[8] . Some of these instruments were likely brought back to Canada as trophies of war. . . . Footnotes: . [1] Exercise for the Foot: With the differences to be observed in the Dragoon Exercise 1757: By Order of H.R.H. Prince William Augustus Duke of Cumberland, etc., A Plan of Discipline Compiled for the use of The Militia of The County of Norfolk 1759, Historical Arms Series No. 42 (1759, reprinted; Bloomfield & Alexandria Bay, Museum Restoration Service, 2004), 12-15. . [2] James Thompson, A Bard of Wolfe’s Army: James Thompson, Gentleman Volunteer, 1733-1830 , edited by Earl John Chapman and Ian Macpherson McCulloch, (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2010), 111. . [3] Ibid., 222. . [4] Serjeant Thomas Langley, 1st Royal Regt. The Eighteen Manoeuvres for His Majesty’s Infantry, 1794 (1794, reprinted; Hemel Hempstead: Bill Leeson with permission of the British Library, 1988), 21. . [5] Brumwell, Stephen. Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas, 1755-1763 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 101. . [6] William Johnson, The Papers of Sir William Johnson, University of the State of New York, 1921-1965, vol. IX, (Albany: The University of the State of New York, 1939), 325. . [7] Ibid., 235, 236. . [8] Ibid., 287. . ..
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Ranger Company having a Drummer
FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON
TO WILLIAM COCKS,
4 JUNE 1756
TO WILLIAM COCKS
[Winchester, 4 June 1756]
To Captain William Cockes—of the Rangers. Sir,
I received yours, complaining of the irregular method of supplying you with provisions; and communicated the contents to Commissary Walker, who writes you on this head: His directions you must follow1 You must make out an accompt of the pay which is owing to you, and transmit it to me per the first opportunity.2 Take care to be very vigilant and active; and to communicate all the intelligence that is remarkable and certain. You must always, upon any alarm, have regard to the summons of each other; and to unite on all extraordinary occasions. Endeavour at working by stratagem; to way-lay and surprize the Enemy; rather than seek them in an open pursuit.
I was greatly surprized and angered to hear of the dastardly behaviour of seven of your men, who fled from a less number of the Enemy, without discharging their pieces. Such behaviour merits the fate that some of our men [(]for the like offence) will soon meet with.3 and, you may assure your company that they shall not escape unpunished for such Offences. Your parties that go for provision, should always be made strong. I am &c.
G:W.
Winchester—June 4th 1756.
LB, DLC:GW.
1. None of this correspondence between Cocks, Thomas Walker, and GW has been found.
2. A weekly return from Cocks at Patterson Creek, dated 3 July 1756, lists in his ranger company one captain, one lieutenant, three sergeants, one drummer, and thirty-two rank and file (DLC:GW).
3. The Maryland Gazette (Annapolis) for 1 July 1756 reported that on 29 May “an Express arrived [in Williamsburg] from Cox’s fort, with Advice, That the Indians had killed and scalped two Men belonging to it, that were out a Hunting, wounded a third, and a fourth was missing, of the Party which consisted of Seven; that they drew up on an Eminence near the Fort and fired at it several Times.”
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