"Taps" is a bugle call played at dusk, during flag ceremonies, and at military funerals by the United States Armed Forces. The official military version is played by a single bugle or trumpet, although other versions of the tune may be played in other contexts (e.g., the U.S. Marine Corps Ceremonial Music site has recordings of two bugle and one band version). It is also performed often at Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and Girl Guide meetings and camps. The tune is also sometimes known as "Butterfields Lullaby", or by the first line of the lyric, "Day Is Done". The duration may vary to some extent; the typical recording below is 59 seconds long.
"Taps" is derived from the same source as "Tattoo".
"Taps" originates from the Dutch taptoe, meaning "close the (beer) taps (and send the troops back to camp)". An alternative explanation, however, is that it carried over from a term already in use before the American Civil War. Three single, slow drum beats were struck after the sounding of the Tattoo or "Extinguish Lights". This signal was known as the "Drum Taps", "The Taps", or simply as "Taps" in soldiers slang.
The tune is a variation of an earlier bugle call known as the "Scott Tattoo", which was used in the U.S. from 1835 until 1860, and was arranged in its present form by the Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, an American Civil War general and Medal of Honor recipient who commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division in the V Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac while at Harrisons Landing, Virginia, in July 1862 to replace a previous French bugle call used to signal "lights out". Butterfields bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, of East Springfield, Pennsylvania, was the first to sound the new call. Within months "Taps" was used by both Union and Confederate forces. It was officially recognized by the United States Army in 1874.
"Taps" concludes many military funerals conducted with honors at Arlington National Cemetery and elsewhere in the United States. The tune is also sounded at many memorial services in Arlingtons Memorial Amphitheater and at grave sites throughout the cemetery. It is also regularly played at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, to commemorate the sacrifice made, at and around that site, by United States servicemen in WWII, during the allied effort to liberate Europe from the Nazis.
Captain John C. Tidball, West Point Class of 1848, started the custom of playing "Taps" at military funerals. In early July 1862 at Harrisons Landing, a corporal of Tidballs Battery A, 2nd U.S. Artillery, died. He was, Tidball recalled later, "a most excellent man". Tidball wished to bury him with full military honors, but, for military reasons, he was refused permission to fire 7 rifles three times (21-shot salute) over the grave. Tidball later wrote, "The thought suggested itself to me to sound taps instead, which I did. The idea was taken up by others, until in a short time it was adopted by the entire army and is now looked upon as the most appropriate and touching part of a military funeral." As Tidball proudly proclaimed, "Battery A has the honor of having introduced this custom into the service, and it is worthy of historical note."
It became a standard component to U.S. military funerals in 1891.
"Taps" is sounded during each of the military wreath ceremonies conducted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every year, including the ones held on Memorial Day. The ceremonies are viewed by many people, including veterans, school groups, and foreign officials. "Taps" also is sounded nightly in military installations at non-deployed locations to indicate that it is "lights out", and often by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides to mark the end of an evening event such as a campfire.
The melody of "Taps" is composed entirely from the written notes of the C major triad (i.e., C, E, and G, with the G used in the lower and higher octaves). This is because the bugle, for which it is written, can play only the notes in the harmonic series of the instruments fundamental tone; a B-flat bugle thus plays the notes B-flat, D, and F. "Taps" uses the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth partials.
"Taps" is a bugle call - a signal, not a song. As such, there is no associated lyric. Many bugle calls had words associated with them as a mnemonic device but these are not lyrics. A Horace Lorenzo Trim wrote a set of words intended to accompany the music:
Several later lyrical adaptations have been created.
There are several legends concerning the origin of "Taps". The most widely circulated one states that a Union Army infantry officer, whose name often is given as Captain Robert Ellicombe, first ordered "Taps" performed at the funeral of his son, a Confederate soldier killed during the Peninsula Campaign. This apocryphal story claims that Ellicombe found the tune in the pocket of his sons clothing and performed it to honor his memory, but there is no record of any man named Robert Ellicombe holding a commission as captain in the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign.
That Daniel Butterfield composed "Taps" has been sworn to by numerous reputable witnesses including his bugler Norton, who first performed the tune. While scholars continue to debate whether or not the tune was original or based on an earlier melody, few researchers doubt that Butterfield is responsible for the current tune.
Another, perhaps more historically verifiable, account of "Taps" first being used in the context of a military funeral involves John C. Tidball, a Union artillery captain who during a break in fighting ordered the tune sounded for a deceased soldier in lieu of the more traditional—and much less discreet—three volley tribute. Army Col. James A. Moss, in an Officers Manual initially published in 1911, reports the following:
While not necessarily addressing the origin of the "Taps", this does represent the first recorded instance of "Taps" being sounded as part of a military funeral. Until then, while the tune had meant that the soldiers day of work was finished, it had little to none of the connotation or overtone of death, with which it so often is associated today.
Another lesser-known legend is that of Lieutenant William Waid paying saloon-keepers to shut off the taps to the kegs when the song was played in a neighboring army camp. Lt. Waids name has not been found in Union or Confederate records.
Although primarily used within the military, several local or special variations of the tune are performed, primarily by organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America or American military schools. It is also played all over the world in remembrance of the dead.
Echo Taps or Silver Taps is a tradition in which "Taps" is played at U.S. military schools—such as Norwich University, Texas AandM University, New Mexico Military Institute, The Citadel, and Virginia Tech—when a member or former member of a schools corps of cadets is killed in action. Echo Taps ceremonies involve some arrangement of "Taps" for two buglers, playing antiphonally to represent both the cadets branch of service and their college. Silver Taps ceremonies may use such an arrangement, or some other version for two or more instruments.
At Norwich University, the ceremony is held on the Upper Parade Ground, where the Corps of Cadets forms up silently at 2145 (9:45 p.m.) for tattoo, and then stands in silence until 2200 (10:00 p.m.) when "Echo Taps" is sounded, at which time unit commanders tacitly will give the commands of attention and present arms. The regimental bugler stands either near the flagpole in front of Jackman Hall or on Jackmans balcony and plays the main tune of "Taps". The echoing bugler will stand on the steps of Dewey Hall facing the Parade Ground and echo each series of notes. Following the sounding of "Taps", the Corps of Cadets dismisses in silence.
At Texas AandM, Echo Taps is held on the Corps of Cadets Quad at 10:30 p.m. For the ceremony, the Corps falls out and both students and cadets gather to form around the Quad. A bugler is posted at the megaphone on the south end and another is at the arches on the north end. Cadets salute and the bugler on the south end plays the first three notes of Silver Taps, the bugler on the north end echoes, the bugler on the south end plays the next three notes and is echoed for the rest of the song. Cadets and students then return to their dorms.
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