Most people would recognize the famed military bugle call “Taps,” but Schenectady County’s connection to the song isn’t as well known as the tune.
The Schenectady County Historical Society hosted a presentation by Frank Taormina, SCHS board member and Union College alum, about the origins of “Taps” and the man credited for creating the tune, Daniel Butterfield, on Saturday, March 10. Audience members filled the room and listened to Butterfield’s life and events leading up to “Taps” and events following it.
Taormina, former assistant superintendent for Niskayuna Central School District, said he delved into Butterfield’s life after being asked to give a presentation for Union College Academy for Lifelong Learning.
“I just did some reading on him and tried to find out as much as I could going to the archives at Union College and looking at a variety of other places,” Taormina said.
Butterfield graduated from Union in 1849 and was a member of the Sigma Phi Society, which is credited as the second oldest Greek fraternity in the country.
Also, he later became President of Union’s Alumni Association and invited famous people, such as Frederick Seward and Andrew Carnegie, to give talks in Schenectady on a variety of subjects. In the 1890s, around when General Electric was being founded, one of the talks focused on electric energy.
Taormina said Carnegie also had local connections, because Student Center building at Union used to be called Carnegie Hall due to his donations to help fund construction.
Former treasure of Union Alexander Holland also married Butterfield’s sister, Sophia, Taormina said. Holland later left his job at Union to become the financial manager for American Express.
Butterfield’s connection to “Taps” was started by his passion for bugle calls. He even had his own bugle calls made for his troops. “Taps” was played at night before soldiers went to sleep that everything is secure and is also played during military funerals.
When Butterfield was in Virginia in 1862 he arranged what is now “Taps” from a French bugle call signaling lights out for the night. He had felt the call was too formal and wanted to create something different from his troops.
Using an older bugle call that stopped being played just before the Civil War, he rearranged the last five and a half measures to create the ubiquitous 24-note song. The call quickly caught on throughout the Union army.
Taormina said searching the Internet for “Taps” reveals a plethora of information and theories behind the song.
“If you are an old guy like me, you can just sit there and spend the afternoon listening to ‘Taps,’” Taormina joked.
Taormina’s talk ties in with the ongoing focus the Historical Society has given to the Civil War.
“We have done a series of programming on commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War … we started last year and will go until 2015,” Ryan Mahoney, curator of the historical society, said. “Daniel Butterfield has a local connection with Union College … it fit in perfectly.”
Mahoney said Butterfield’s life after the Civil War is also interesting with several controversies.
“You just mainly hear about Butterfield with the Civil War, but there is really so much with his life going on afterwards,” Mahoney said.
