The Military Traditions of Taps

Borrowed from an 1809 French bugle call—one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s favorite ditties— during the 1862 Seven Days Battles of the Peninsular Campaign, Union Army General Daniel Butterfield enlisted company bugler Oliver Wilcox Norton to pen a more impactful “lights out” bugle rendering called “Scott Tattoo” or “Extinguish Lights” for his encampment of courageous officers and soldiers.

Pens a Masterpiece

What Norton scored became the 24 notes of what we now know as “Taps,” and when he played the piece after Butterfield’s approval, buglers from other companies soon begged Norton for copies of his score. During the same Peninsular Campaign, when a beloved soldier was killed at Captain John C. Tidball’s advanced artillery position, fearful that a three-gun salut would give away his concealed position to Confederate forces, he ordered that “Taps” be played instead, which soon became the custom on both sides of the conflict during the remainder of the Civil War. In 1891, when now retired General Butterfield resided over the funeral of General William Tecumseh Sherman,

A Military Tradition is Born

Taps became a mandatory rite of honor in all Army funeral ceremonies, which is played daily at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and every evening at Arlington National Cemetery, paying tribute to all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. To further cement “Taps” into military ceremonies for the fallen, in 2013, as part of the Defense Authorization Act, Congress made “Taps” the National Song of Remembrance.

The Dead Cared For

Roughly six miles from Maastricht in Holland lies the sacred home of a U.S. military cemetery, where 8,301 American soldiers lay buried after their ultimate sacrifice during World War Two’s Operation Market Garden, which liberated much of Holland from Nazi occupation during the fall and winter of 1944. The men who lie here, as well as fallen soldiers of Canada and Great Britain, have been adopted by Dutch families who tend to each grave, keeping alive the memory of each soldier who fought for Dutch liberation.

Liberation Day Remembrances

Beginning in 1965, the Dutch also began a second lasting tradition on “Liberation Day,” conducting elaborate memorial services for the men who gave their lives for the liberation of the Netherland. The day of remembrance ends with a concert for the citizen caretakers of the cemetary, highlighted by a final piece derived from “Taps” called “Il Silenzio,” commissioned by the Dutch in 1965 and written by Italian composer, Nino Rossi, making the military traditions of “Taps,” one of the most moving tributes to fallen heroes everywhere.”