"Historically Speaking" Season 4 Begins : Register for "Civil War Bands"

Latest update: 12 January 2023 - gmc

A History of the Port Royal Bands by John Brookfield (Sam Teddy Publishing, 2015) is one of those titles that I learned of because of a customer inquiry - and has led to not one, but two forthcoming local history programs! 

According to the book's introduction, the US government issued General Order 15 to establish infantry bands of 26 musicians on May 5, 1861. That order was rescinded 14 months later due to cost. However smaller brigade level bands of 16 musicians shared among 4 to 5 regiments were allowed.

By all accounts, two of the finest bands in the Union Army came from New Hampshire, the Third Regiment Band of the New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and a few months after the Third's dissolution in August 1862, the Band of the Second Brigade, 10th Army Corps, Department of the South, often refered to as the Hilton Head Post Band. Both organizations were stationed near Port Royal, South Carolina, and led by Gustavus W. Ingalls, a native of Bristol, New Hampshire. (p. xii)

Besides being an historical account of Civil War bands, Brookfield researched the individual members of the bands before, during and after the war including as illustrations portraits and gravesites of some of the men, photographs of instruments owned by the men, and even an occasional sheet music cover.  

The Beaufort County Historical Society, Coastal Discovery Museum and the BDC are sponsoring programs by Dr. Michael Johns about the role of Civil War bands on Thursday, January 19, 2023  in the St. Helena Branch Library,6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road and on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 in the Hilton Head Island Branch Library, 11 Beach City Road. Program start time at both locations is 11 AM. 

Registration is required for the January 19th session at St. Helena Branch Library. (The "Historically Speaking" series has a lot of groupies North of the Broad River. I expect that we'll "sell out" well before the program date.) Registration is suggested for the January 24th session at Hilton Head Branch Library. (I'm in process building a local history groupies South of the Broad River.) Those with registrations will be seated first beginning 30 minutes ahead of lecture start time. Those without registrations will be seated in any remaining seats at 10:55 AM. 

Michael Johns has spent a lifetime in music, both as a vocation and avocation. A graduate of New England Conservatory and Temple University, he received degrees in French horn performance and music history. He was featured in the April 2018 Beaufort Lifestyle magazine.

Expanding his study of history has provided a stimulating and rewarding encore career in the lowcountry, an area that has provided an outsized array of historically significant, course-changing events. One of the most consequential was its role in the Civil War, serving as a union staging, training, refitting, and recuperation hub. Music was an essential aspect of the soldier's life and bands were essential in defining daily activity, maintaining morale, comforting the wounded, and emboldening the warrior.

“Civil War Union Bands—Members, Duties, Instruments, and Music with special emphasis on Beaufort District” is a presentation about the war-time sounds and instruments heard in camp, during battle, and at social settings. Who were some of the specific bands that came through Beaufort District, what did bandsmen do, how were they treated, why were they integral to the fighting unit, what instruments and music did they play? Multiple recorded examples on period instruments will provide a varied aural sampling of what the soldier would have heard and his reaction to it. 

We hope to see you at one (or both!) of these local history opportunities.

Looking ahead: The next program after Civil War Union Bands sessions is the "Battle of Port Royal Island, 1779" with Neil Baxley on February 2, 2023 at Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street. Registration opens January 19, 2023 on the Beaufort County Historical Society website events page. 

The Library is closed Monday, January 2, 2023. Regular hours resume on Tuesday, January 3. Happy 2023 to you all.