Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills,from the lake,From the skies.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
Go to sleep, peaceful sleep.
May the soldier or sailor,God keep.
On the land or the deep, Safe in sleep.
Love, good night, Must thou go,
When the day,And the night Need thee so?
All is well.Speedeth all To their rest.
Fades the light; And afar
Goeth day,And the stars Shineth bright,
Fare thee well; Day has gone,
Night is on.
Thanks and praise, For our days,
'Neath the sun,Neath the stars,'Neath the sky,
As we go, This we know, God is nigh.
While there are no words to Taps per se, those given above are likely the most common.
There is a poignant myth about the origin of Taps that is circulating about the Internet. The true story is that in July 1862, after the Seven Days battles at Harrison's Landing (near Richmond), Virginia, the wounded Commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, General Daniel Butterfield reworked, with his bugler Oliver Wilcox Norton, another bugle call, "Scott Tattoo," to create Taps. He thought that the regular call for Lights Out was too formal. The custom, thus originated, was taken up throughout the Army of the Potomac and finally confirmed by orders." Soon other Union units began using Taps, and even a few Confederate units began using it as well. After the war, Taps became an official bugle call. Col. James A. Moss, in his Officer's Manual first published in 1911, gives an account of the initial use of Taps at a military funeral:
"During the Peninsular Campaign in 1862, a soldier of Tidball's Battery A of the 2nd Artillery was buried at a time when the battery occupied an advanced position concealed in the woods. It was unsafe to fire the customary three volleys over the grave, on account of the proximity of the enemy, and it occurred to Capt. Tidball that the sounding of Taps would be the most appropriate ceremony that could be substituted."
From The Military Taps
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
Memorial Day History
And the winners of this month draw are Laurie and Carol. Email me your snailmail address and I'll get those off to you.
19 comments:
Well done.
I love learning the origins of our customs & rituals.
And I had no idea that Texas has a separate day to honor the Confederate soldiers, and I thought I was pretty good w/ my TX history. I love being on the learning curve. :)
The best/worst thing I remember seeing in Washington was the Vietnam Memorial. I looked at all the names and just cried. I was 16. I have never forgotten that place, and although my Dh served for 10 years and was lucky and survived. I always say a prayer on Memorial Day for those who didn't.
Thank you for the wonderful info on the history of Memorial Day. I had no idea it went so far back, in fact I just learned this week the origins of Arlington Cemetary doing some research. And I'll snail mail you asap!
Interesting lesson for a canuck like me :o) I vaguely remember reading something on the words for taps (and an assignment about writing new ones...wow look at those repressed memories come back!)
congrats to the winners
Thanks for the info. You know, we used to sing that song at girl scout camp. Had no idea that's what we were singing. :)
We used to sing Taps at the end of every girl guides session too.
I have relatives buried in Belgium. One day I may get to see the war graves.
BTW, is it Tuesday already?
Bebo - I didn't know it either, and I know more Texas history than the average Texan.
Brandy - I'd like to go to Washington D.C., my father's name is on the WWII Memorial.
Laurie - Civil War buff that I am, I knew about Arlington. Bebo didn't, but we watched a documentary on it last night.
Lis - I also wanted to get the true story of Taps out there, I keep getting this fictional (but melodramatic) version in my email.
Danica - that's me. You know if it's a holiday, I'm going to try to educate.
Diane - um, no, it's me hitting the wrong date last night. I've fixed it. War graves in Belgium sounds interesting. I have this thing about cemetaries - love them. I have ancestors buried on the East Coast that I'd love to see their graves.
Thank you so much, Eve! I'll send you my address.
Happy Memorial Day everyone!
very lovely... - my generation in my family is the first to not serve - though I was poised and ready to sign up for the Air Force at the end of high school but I met this pesky boy (and as our 14th anniversary is coming up shortly you can see how it ends...) It goes to show what the previous generation accomplished that I and my brother had so many more choices at the end of high school! (my living Grandma was even in the Army so when guys would tell my dad, "Your mama wears combats boots." he'd say, "Yeah and ..."
happy memorial day
Thanks for reminding everyone that Memorial Day isn't just about picnics. It is a time to take time to remember those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom and those who have served and are serving our country today.
Congratulations Laurie and Carol!
Thanks Eve.
Memorial Day is in November for Brits. I'm usually near tears the whole day. It is important to remember your soldiers--all of them.
You're welcome Carol.
Thanks Peggy.
Dennie - LOL about the combat boots. We come from a long line too. Not my family - my father was the last veteran, but the extended family - cousin just came back from Iraq and the husband of another cousin is somewhere in the Middle East. My family line goes back to the Revolutionary War.
Susan - I think a lot of people tend to forget that.
Exactly Toni - although we have Veteran's Day in November for all Vets. But it's good to think about all of them every day.
Great post. I had no idea about that history.
Congrats Laurie and Carol.
I always like to learn about beginnings of things. Good history lesson. My husband is a vietnam vet and both our fathers were in the war and my MIL too. We always have a nice ceremony at our American Legion.
I too remember singing the taps song at all my daughters girl scouts camps.
Congrats to Laurie and Carol. And thanks for the info, Eve. Btw, though I studied history, I had no idea about a separate day for Confederate soldiers, either.
I remember learning to play Taps on the piano, learning the words and the meaning behind when I was in middle school. Helped make me patriotic.
And lots of states have differet days to celebrate Confederate soldiers; NC celebrated Confederate Memorial Day on the day of Stonewall Jackson's death earlier this month, and most states do so around that day.
Kelley - a lot of people don't know about it.
Jeanne - I obviously missed something by not going to Girl Scouts (besides the cookies).
Loreth - yep, 11th of November is our Veteran's Day.
Olga - me either - and I took history of the South classes.
Marty - as Bebo and I said, we didn't know about January 19 being Texas' day to honor the Confederate war dead. Not a big deal is made about it here. Since I had a gr-gr-whatever grandfather die in the Confederate army I'm going to start paying attention to that day.
Thanks, Eve, for bringing us, and especially me as a "furriner" up on the history of Memorial Day. There was recently a question about who had written "Taps" so I knew that part, also that Gen. Butterfield never composed anything else.
I didn't know that many of the former Confederate states still mourn the Civil War dead on a separate day. Do you have an actual holiday, as the provinces can declare here, or is it just to think of them on that day in particular? However, the holidays declared by the provinces, except by Quebec, are non-statutory, meaning you aren't paid for those. We have one on the first Mon. of Aug. that does not have to be paid.
That's interesting that your father's name is on the WW II Memorial. I don't know if Germany has any memorial to its soldiers whether they died during battle or later. My father had an injury but it wasn't a bad one. It wasn't until the 1960s however, that they discovered and removed a piece of left-over shrapnel from that wound from his head. It had started to move and he was having pretty bad headaches. So when he went in to have his head x-rayed(?) they found the piece far from the wound at the back of his neck. If it had moved much more, it would have lodged in the brain. I was in Europe at the time and was glad enough not to know all the gory details.
I sort of take this day to think of my war dead: my father's two brothers who were MIA. We have never found out where they are. They could even still be, or have been alive somewhere in Russia. We tried to find them without success. His father lost a leg in WW I.
Not really a "happy" holiday, is it? More like a grateful, remembering one.
BTW, we are now under attack from a heat wave. The reading for 1700h EDT was 92 with "feels like" 104. Forget about going out until later. Actually the sun isn't out unless it's just mugginess that's obscuring it and not actual clouds. However, it's supposedly 47% humidity which is definitely still in the comfortable range.
I went to see some of the Canadian cemeteries in France. They had to be refurbished from looking too derelict not long ago. Even cemeteries show their age.
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