Issachar Bates: A Shaker’s Journey

2. “Take the bloody track of war”: A Fifer in the American Revolution

{ 17 chapter 2 “Take the bloody track of war” a fifer in the american revolution Rights of freedom we’ll maintain, And our independence gain —Issachar Bates, “Rights of Conscience” Issachar Bates was a young teenager in Templeton, Massachusetts, some sixty miles west of Boston, when preparations began for war with En­ gland. After the Boston Tea Party and the arrival of British troops in Boston, communities throughout Massachusetts began organizing militia units. Men and boys of all ages turned out to train on village greens, using the standard military manuals of the day to conduct the drills necessary for going into battle; and fife and drum were an integral part of the preparation, as they were necessary to regulate movement. Like other young men in his family and community, Issachar Bates was caught up in the fervor of the times and wished to serve the cause of American freedom. Perhaps because he was only fifteen when war preparations began in earnest or perhaps because he was drawn to music, he showed the initiative of buying himself a fife and learning to play it. For more than a year before the “alarm” went out in April 1775, he spent as many as six hours a day fifing for the “minute men” of his community, as they paraded on the town commons. The fife was one of the most popular musical instruments in colonial times. Because of the piercing and even ear-splitting tone that it produced, the fife played an indispensible role in military life, delivering tactical communications on the field.1 Fifes were made of wood—usually boxwood, ebony, rosewood, or mahogany. By the 1770s, they were marketed throughout the colonies. Many were English made, but American cabinetmakers also produced fifes as a cottage industry. Issachar Bates would have had little trouble finding a fife to purchase, possibly using wages earned as a hired hand. Fife manuals were also widely marketed, and in some towns instructors advertised to give lessons. Issachar would have owned a fife that was about seventeen inches long, with six finger holes and meant to be held transversely. The tone in the upper register would have been exceptionally loud and shrill, made more so depending upon the lung capacity of the player. In addition to mastering the fife, Issachar Bates was trained in what he 18 } issachar bates calls the “old Norfolk manual exercise,” a reference to one of the European military manuals that contained standard instructions for military training, deportment, and battlefield maneuvers. Several were in use in 1770s America. Issachar probably used A Plan of Exercises for the Militia of Massachusetts; Extracted from the Plan of Discipline of the Norfolk Militia, by Windham and Townshend and published in 1768 and again 1771 by Richard Draper in Boston . This was adapted from an earlier English publication from 1759, which praises the importance of the fife in military training, saying that foot soldiers perform “with the greatest order and regularity, to the sound of the fife; keeping the most exact time and cadence . . . The effect of the musick in regulating the step, and making the men keep their order, is really very extraordinary . . . it is the best and indeed the only method of teaching troops to march well.”2 Issachar Bates served as a fifer throughout his several tours of duty. Musicians in the American Revolution experienced the war somewhat differently from the ordinary soldier, and their roles varied constantly. The Continental Army and colonial militias alike adapted many customs regarding the function of military musicians from British and other European military tradition, but at different times and to varying degrees. Each colony had slightly different practices relative to musicians’ status, duties, and expectations. Also, the regulations affecting musicians changed during the course of the war, as officers sought to enhance military efficiency by improving and standardizing music. Still, many general impressions can be drawn to illuminate Issachar Bates’s experience as a fifer. In peacetime, fifing was considered suitable for young boys, as it involved primarily the drilling of troops or ceremonial appearances. But with the outbreak of war, the demands of a fifer changed considerably. Paired fifes and drums are commonly perceived as a staple of the Revolutionary Period. But at the outset of the Revolution, fifes and drums together accompanied only the elite British “grenadier” units, with drums alone accompanying units of foot soldiers. “Grenadiers” led charges and were responsible for delivering heavier ordnance (“grenades”). Such units needed fifes, whose piercing tone...