USS Shiloh commanding officer Capt. Adam Aycock examines Civil War-style drums Yokosuka Middle School students made as a part of a history project Dec. 13, 2016. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — USS Shiloh sailors and Yokosuka Middle School students banged their way through a virtual lesson in Civil War-era drumming Tuesday, courtesy of the National Park Service.
The 7th-grade students and sailors filed into a classroom with the youths clutching Civil War-style drums they made and decorated earlier.
The group linked up online with Shiloh National Military Park Ranger Chris Mecow, who appeared on a television screen clad in Civil War-era garb and holding a drum of his own.
Mecow told the sailors and kids about the history of the Battle of Shiloh and the military drummers who participated.
The social studies students had researched Civil War drummers ahead of the class, according to their teacher, Dale Duncan.
“Each group had to do research on their own and report back to me,” he said. “At this age, they haven’t had much exposure to the Civil War.”
Each class at the middle school is partnered with a Yokosuka-based ship, and Duncan’s class is linked with the USS Shiloh.
The warship, launched in 1990, is named after the famous Civil War battle that took place in Tennessee in 1862. Nearly 110,000 Americans clashed in a two-day fight that resulted in over 23,000 Union and Confederate casualties. The battle was, at the time, the bloodiest in American history.
After talking about the battle, Mecow then gave students a brief lesson on Civil War drummers. The kids’ interest picked up when he told them that they were about the same age as many of the musicians who enlisted in the Union and Confederate armies.
Enlistment ages for Union forces were 18 for soldiers and 16 for musicians, but it was easy for recruits to lie about their ages. Along with entertaining troops, Civil War-era military musicians signaled reveille, assembly, officer’s call, sick call and Taps, and learned more than 40 musical signals used in battle.
Drummers in infantry units were usually unarmed, although this didn’t spare them from enemy fire.
Mecow led the youngsters through a series of Civil War-era drum calls. The students started with reveille and graduated up to fast-paced movements such as the call for retreat.
After the lesson, the students practiced drumming with the Shiloh sailors.
Jazmyn Capacinski, 13, called the lesson a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I thought it was very educational. I liked that someone from the park showed us how to play the drums and gave us some background information,” she said.
Shiloh commander Capt. Adam Aycock said his sailors enjoy interacting with the kids.
“Some of the sailors are straight out of high school and they are looking for ways to pay back what they are getting from the Navy by volunteering,” he said.
USS Shiloh commanding officer Capt. Adam Aycock examines Civil War-style drums Yokosuka Middle School students made as a part of a history project Dec. 13, 2016. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
Sailors from the USS Shiloh and Yokosuka Middle School students pose for a photo after the completion of a Civil War history project Dec. 13, 2016. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
Civil War style drums made by Yokosuka Middle School students as part Civil War history project Dec. 13, 2016. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
USS Shiloh sailors and Yokosuka Middle School students practice playing Civil War-style drums as part of a history project Dec. 13, 2016. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
