By spring, 1864 the US government was running out of room in cemeteries to hold the dead who were dying at high rate. In May…
Posts tagged as “bugle”
The Scott Tattoo
The 1835 Tattoo or Scott Tattoo is the bugle signal that predates the call of Taps. It is important in the evolution of Taps in…
Evening Taps during Covid-19
by Jari Villanueva Taps Bugler ©2020 I have noticed some news stories about people sounding Taps each evening in their neighborhoods. Buglers and trumpeters are…
The Sound of a Trumpet
The Sound of a Trumpetfrom “It is Written” By Cecil J. Blay It was only the other day that I found myself doing it again…
What is Taps?
WHAT IS TAPS? Of all the military bugle calls, none is so easily recognized or more apt to evoke emotion than the twenty-four notes that…
The Taps Myth
Almost every day when I check my e-mails, I get a message or two asking about or forwarding a story for my comment or enlightenment. It starts with, "Reportedly it all began during the Civil War…" and goes on to relate the story of Union Captain Ellicombe and how he finds his wounded Confederate son on a battlefield. The story is that the music of Taps is found in the pocket of the young man and that's how the call came into being. It is a heartwarming and poignant story, but false.
Oliver Willcox Norton
Who was the bugler who first sounded the call of Taps? When did it happen? What did he do after his time in the Army?…
Key for Taps
A question has come up as to what the original key was for Taps. Whether or not it was played on a G Bugle, or…


