Union Bands

During the Civil War recruitment rallies were held to try to get men to join the Army. Military bands played patriotic marching tunes to inspire young men to sign up.

For each regiment of 500-1000 soldiers a regimental band of 24 players was usually included. By the end of 1861 the Union Army had 618 bands with more than 28,000 musicians, a ratio of 1 musician to every 41 soldiers.

When the war first started band members were paid MORE than soldiers! During the first year the War Department spent $4,000,000 on bands!

This video is of a re-enactment band at a performance.

After the first year Congress decided they needed to save some money and greatly reduced the number of bands to 60 bands with 2500 musicians.

Some officers felt having a band was extremely important to keep up the spirits of the men. To keep their band they had their musicians sign up as soldiers and then assigned them back to the band.

In addition to the Army, each state sent Militia Units to the war. Many Militia Units had their own bands which were usually bigger and better. Most bands used all brass instruments since they withstood the rigors of the outdoors. Only the largest bands used woodwinds to compliment the brasses.

By the time the Civil War started, "The Star Spangled Banner" was well known throughout America but it was not our country’s national anthem yet. It was used as a Union battle song since the North kept the American flag as its flag during the war. The South adopted several new flags.

It wasn't until 1931, seventy years after the Civil War started, that "The Star Spangled Banner" became our national anthem.