Camp Musicians

At the time of the Civil War, minstrel tunes sung with the accompaniment of the banjo and fiddle were the most popular forms of music, so it was only natural that within the armies, there were literally thousands of musicians. These camp musicians were one of the ways for the men to remove themselves from the monotony and terror of war. One famous musician, Sam Sweeney (brother of Joel Sweeney who is credited with the invention of the 5 string banjo), had only one job during the war. He was J.E.B. Stuart's personal banjo player and played for the troops, the general, and his guests.

The following story is from an article entitled "Reminiscences of a Banjo Player" published in the February 1893 issue of S.S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal. Mr. A. Baur relates the following:

"...In 1864 there were very few regiments in the service that had more than one wagon for the whole regiment...Strict orders were at all times issued that no baggage must be carried for an enlisted man in any of the wagons...Where there's a will, there's a way, and a few of us managed with the help of a friendly teamster to stow away a tack head banjo and an accordion...

If the weather was pleasant, a crowd would gather around the camp fire, the banjo and accordion having been sneaked out of the wagon and a door from some farm house or a couple of boards having been put on the ground on one side of the fire, the audience would take it's place on the opposite side, when the evening's entertainment would be gone through with. It consisted of songs with banjo and accordion accompaniment, stories of home and jig dancing. The performances were crude but helped while away many a lonely hour and remind us of home and friends in the far north.

Owing to poor facilities for keeping the instruments in order, the instrumental part of our entertainments were always the poorest. Sometimes it would be weeks before we could get a string, and if the banjo head was broken, it took much time and maneuvering for one of our party to steal into the tent of a drummer and punch a hole in a drum near the shell, after which we would watch that drummer's tent with eagle eyes until he took the damaged head and threw it out, when 'one of the gang' would pounce on it and bring it to camp in a round about way. Owing to their thickness, the drum heads did not make very good banjo heads, but they beat 'nothing clear out of sight.' In addition to the banjo and accordion, we had a set of beef bones and a sheet iron mess pan that answered for a tambourine. Taking into consideration our surroundings and the disadvantages under which we labored, we had some tolerably good shows and at any rate satisfied our open air audiences..."

As I am currently working on learning how to play the minstrel style banjo, I saw this and thought it very interesting. Maybe a flavor to be added to our camps at night during reenactments, and if we don't have a banjo handy, just make our own instruments with whatever is laying around. Of course, be courteous to sleeping messmates as it will probably be a noise most likely to wake the dead!