Taps began as a revision to the signal for Lights Out at the end of
the day.  Up until the Civil War, the infantry call for Lights Out was
the one set down in Silas Casey's Tactics, which had been
borrowed from the French. The music for Taps was adapted by
Union General Daniel Butterfield for his brigade (Third Brigade,
First Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac) in July, 1862.

General Butterfield was not pleased with the call for Lights Out,
feeling that it was too formal to signal the day's end. With the
help of the brigade bugler, Oliver Willcox Norton, Butterfield
created Taps to honor his men while in camp at Harrison's
Landing, Virginia following the Seven Days' battle, which took
place during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. The new call,
sounded that night in July, 1862, soon spread to other units of
the Union Army and was even used by the Confederates. Taps
was made an official bugle call after the war.

Butterfield did not compose Taps but actually revised an earlier
bugle call. The 24 note sequence we know today as Taps existed
in an early version of the call Tattoo, which had gone out of use
by the Civil War. As a signal for the end of the day, armies have

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used Tattoo to alert troops to prepare for bedtime roll call.  General Butterfield knew this call from his days before the
war as a colonel for the 12th New York Militia.

The origin of the word Taps is thought by some to have come from the Dutch word for Tattoo, or "Taptoe."  More
than likely, Taps comes from the three drum taps that were played as a signal for Extinguish Lights when a bugle was
not used.

How did Taps become associated with funerals? The earliest official reference to the mandatory use of Taps at
military funeral ceremonies is found in the US Army Infantry Drill Regulations for 1891, although it had doubtless
been used unofficially long before that time, under its former designation, Extinguish Lights.

Other stories of the origin of Taps exist. A popular myth is that of a Northern boy who was killed fighting for the
South. His father, Robert Ellicombe, a captain in the Union Army, came upon his son's body on the battlefield and
found the notes to Taps in a pocket of the dead boy's Confederate uniform. There is no evidence to back up the
story or the existence of a Captain Ellicombe.

"There is something singularly beautiful and appropriate in the music of this wonderful call. Its strains are
melancholy, yet full of rest and peace. Its echoes linger in the heart long after its tones have ceased to vibrate in
the air." - Oliver Willcox Norton

Visit www.tapsbugler.com for much more information on:

The history of Taps
Information on getting a bugler for a funeral or ceremony
Ordering a copy of 24 Notes That Tap Deep Emotions
Music for bugle calls
Photos of bugles and buglers
Links to bugle websites

The author sounding Taps