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| Musicians Got Paid More |
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Fifers and drummers got paid more? It’s true. The roster for the Lincoln Minute Men on April 19, 1775, shows that the two fifers, Joseph and Elijah Mason, and the drummer, Daniel Brown, were paid at a rate of 44 shillings per month, while musket soldiers got only 40 shillings. And the practice continued in the Continental Army. The Journal of the Continental Congress for Saturday, July 29, 1775, specified the pay of various ranks and positions in the newly formed Army, including “Corporal, drummer, and fifer, each 7 1/3 [dollars].” Common privates were to be paid only 6 2/3 dollars. But why were the musicians paid more? The historical records don’t explain. Perhaps it was more dangerous to be a musician, standing near the officers and ready to signal the troops with distinctive tunes. At the North Bridge, the initial British volley killed Capt. Isaac Davis of the Acton company and wounded young Luther Blanchard, the Acton fifer who presumably marched alongside. And yet, British soldiers were drilled to “present,” not to “aim,” and it was not their practice to fire specifically at officers. Isaac Davis was probably hit because he was marching in front of his own column of men along the narrow causeway leading to the bridge. But in battle, soldiers were arrayed in long lines, and officers stood to their right, not in front. Hard to believe it was more dangerous to be a musician than a musket soldier, in the battles of the day. So maybe fifers and drummers got paid more because they were in short supply? Perhaps. But don’t underestimate the era. Town dances were popular entertainment, and music instructors advertised in Boston newspapers, perhaps offering their students the opportunity to learn the new music by Haydn or that vulgar rascal Mozart. According to tradition, the musicians at the North Bridge played White Cockade as the militia marched down the hill. To judge from a hand-scrawled score for White Cockade which survives, the tune was played at a slower tempo than the Fifes & Drums of the Lincoln Minute Men now play. But as any modern fifer can attest, White Cockade is a very challenging tune. These fifers were no country hayseeds. No doubt colonial fifers honed their skills at country dances. As for drummers, hard to know where and how they refined their skills. But they seem to have been an eager bunch. According to Parks’ family tradition, Leonard Parks was a fifer with Lincoln’s militia at Concord when he was only 14 years old, and he then fifed at Bunker Hill and again at Saratoga in 1777. Joseph Mason, Jr., one of two fifers with the Lincoln Minute Men at Concord, was also in the Lincoln contingent that went to Saratoga. If such youths were so eager, why was it necessary to pay them extra? Whatever the reason for the elevated status of fifers and drummers, it eventually wore off. A report of the War Board in the Journal of the Continental Congress recommended in August, 1777, that “all able bodied Fifers and Drummers be obliged to do duty as Soldiers and be furnished with arms.” Enough tootin’ and bangin’ for now, boys — your country needs men who can shoot. Donald L. Hafner is a fifer and Drum Major with the Lincoln Minute Men, and a professor of Political Science at Boston College. |