Volume 15 , Issue 21

Origin of Sounding "Taps"

In The Richmond Climax, out of Richmond, Kentucky, dated 25 August 1909, page 5, we find yet another "Origin of Sounding of Taps."

As reported in The Richmond Climax in 1909, John H. Kent, a retired army officer, was quoted as saying in a Washington letter, in the Chicago Examiner, "It is not generally known that the custom of sounding taps over a soldier's grave originated with the late Capt. John C. Tidball, USA.

John Kent goes on to state, "On the retirement from the peninsula in August, 1862, Horse Battery A, Second Artillery, was serving with the rear guard, and on reaching Yorktown one of the cannoneers died and was buried there. Not wishing to site up the enemy by firing three rounds from the battery guns, as was customary, Capt. Tidball substituted the sounding of taps, lights out, which impressive ceremony has since been observed at all military funerals at the close of the services."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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