Kishwaukee Trail Chapter NSDAR

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

October’s Book Club selection

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton Part 1 by Step...

10/07/2026

Look closely at this painting. The boy with the drum is the image most Americans picture when they think of 1776, but the real drummers of the Revolution were in many cases older, rougher and with a more important than most realize.
A study of Continental Army muster rolls found the average drummer was about 19 years old, and fifers about 17. A few really were as young as 10. The "drummer boy" image isn't pure legend, but most were young men. Even William Diamond, who beat the call to arms on Lexington Green, was likely closer to 20 than the 16 held by local memory.
Their job was for looks. The drum was the army's voice. It woke the camp at dawn, called the men to assemble, set the pace of the march, and sent them to their tents at night. In battle, over musket fire and cannon smoke, the drum carried orders that no officer's voice could. Baron von Steuben standardized those calls so every soldier knew exactly what each beat meant. Each company of roughly 40 men usually had one drummer and one fifer.
Late in the war, Continental musicians wore coats in reversed colors so officers could find them instantly in the chaos. That also made them easy for the enemy to find.
There was a side most people have never heard of. Drummers were often the men ordered to carry out floggings. The Continental Army first capped the punishment at 39 lashes, then raised the limit to 100, and some sentences ran far higher. The same hands that kept the army's rhythm sometimes held the whip.
Washington took the job seriously. In June 1777, he called the army's music "very bad" and warned the drum and fife majors that if they didn't improve it, they'd lose their rank and their extra pay.
And consider this: in April 1775, a drum called the militia to Lexington Green. On October 17, 1781, a lone British drummer climbed the parapet at Yorktown and beat a parley, the signal that Cornwallis was ready to talk surrender. The Revolution's first alarm and its decisive surrender both began with a drumbeat.
We come from people who kept the rhythm of a revolution, often before they were old enough to shave.
Does anyone in your family tree trace back to a drummer or fifer in the Revolution? Tell us their name and where they served.👇


*AI imagery was used in this photo

10/07/2026

Join Joseph Marest Chapter in Roscoe, IL, on Saturday, 10/10, 1 PM!

09/20/2026

The Star-Spangled Banner (the poem) was written by Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, during Key an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland. His poem, "In Defence of Fort M'Henry" was set to the tune of a drinking song. The tune was To Anacreon in Heaven. I needed to look up who he was. It became our national anthem in 1931.

Anacreon (c. 573 – c. 495 BC) was an ancient Greek lyric poet known for his drinking songs and erotic poems. He was born in Teos, an Ionian city, and later moved to Abdera after the city was conquered by the Persians. Anacreon became a favorite at the court of Polycrates of Samos, where he wrote many odes, and later at the court of Hipparchus in Athens. His poetry is characterized by themes of love, revelry, and everyday life, and he is often depicted as a jovial figure in his later works. Anacreon's influence extended beyond his lifetime, as he was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets in later Greek literature.

While my old channel, MrJacon000 got terminated in early 2021, I'm ...

09/19/2026

For Constitution Week, we rang our bells after reciting the Preamble to the Constitution.