Chapter 4 – The Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums Alumni Association

The CWF&D Grows: 1960-1962

In February 1960, the Corps (only 10 members and playing only a few tunes) performed for the Virginia Governor and General Assembly while they met in Williamsburg and also for stockholders of the C & O Railway annual meeting, also in Williamsburg. Fifer J.P. Cottingham and drummer Dallas Hodge joined in April and fifers Bruce Robertson and Stetson Tinkam joined in June.

During the spring and summer of 1960 the Corps continued to perform at the regular Militia musters. The Corps also moved into the “Up and Down Cottage” (then known as the “Up and Down Building”), which was located behind Market Square Tavern and very near the Guardhouse and Magazine. The Up and Down Cottage served as the headquarters and dressing area for the Militia, as it does to this day. Corps members were assigned lockers and the move was further evidence of the Corps’ integration into, and acceptance by, the Militia. In June, the Corps played for the Queen of England’s birthday muster. On July 4, 1960, the Corps played for the King and Queen of Thailand, the first foreign dignitaries the Corps would play for.

The Corps also participated in a 40-minute historical film “Music in Williamsburg”, which was later screened at the Information Center on November 13, 1960. The period film followed a young sailor, recently arrived in Yorktown, who was visiting Williamsburg and the beautiful young girl he met here as they walked arm-in-arm around town encountering various forms of eighteenth century music – parlor music, field songs sung by slaves, the Three Penny Opera, organ music at Bruton Parish Church, work songs sung by sailors and various other forms of music. The Corps had a small part in the film, marching across Market Square playing two new tunes they learned for the film –“White Cockade” and “The Grenadier.”

In August, fifer Stewart Spirn joined the Corps and in October fifers Blake Marion and John Jenkins joined, bringing the number to 15 members by the end of October.

In a September 23, 1960, memorandum to John Harbour, the leader of the Corps, Bill Geiger provided information and instructions on the upcoming events:

I am working on the new pay scale for the Fife and Drum Corps which will be tied into the performance of each individual and I have discussed this with you. As soon as I can work out the necessary details I will announce it to the whole corps….
I want you all in costume at 10:00 am Saturday morning September 24 (tomorrow morning) for our next rehearsal session with Sgt. Carroll. Incidentally, I plan to talk to him at that time about entering the Corps in competition at Arlington.
In addition, our Militia Muster on Friday September 30, 1960, is an important one. At that time we will use this muster to honor the American Society of Travel Writers. They will be meeting in Williamsburg and our regular Militia show will be altered to include cannon firing and an inspection by the President of this group. On this occasion I want the Travel Writers to be saluted by the Fife and Drum Corps and I am asking you to play on this occasion, “God Save Great Washington”. I would therefore suggest some practice on this one number….
In addition to the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, we plan to make great use of our own Corps for the APME meeting in November. There will be several spots in which our Corps will play solo numbers, particularly during the inspection. I would therefore suggest that all of you bear this in mind as you continue your practice sessions.
September 23, 1960, memorandum to John Harbour from William Geiger

The Corps performed for the American Society of Travel Writers in September and plans were made for Corps to perform at the William & Mary Homecoming Parade and at Yorktown Day on October 19^th. The Corps was progressing so well that Geiger was planning to enter the Corps in a fife and drum competition in November in Arlington, Virginia.

On September 24, Geiger took five members of the Corps and traveled to Ft. Meyer, Virginia, to see a performance of the Old Guard Corps, which was only seven months old. This may have been the first visit by a fife and drum corps to the Old Guard Corps.

On September 29, 1960, Geiger prepared a memorandum concerning a proposed pay scale for the Corps. The proposal contains the first written reference to a rank system, which had been established by Carroll during his weekend training visits. Geiger also reported that “our recent efforts to raise the standards of this organization [the Corps] have been gratifying. The group has reached a point where I anticipate entering them in the South Atlantic Regional Fife and Drum Corps Muster in Arlington, Virginia, on November 5, 1960. The Corps instructor, Sgt. George Carroll, has indicated they have an excellent chance of winning prizes in both junior and senior corps competition and an equally good chance in junior individual competition.”

By the end of September, the Corps knew 13 authentic tunes with corresponding drum beatings. Plans were finalized to travel to Arlington in November. The Corps also had instituted a point system based on Carroll’s suggestion and outline. On October 6, 1960, the results of the first monthly “Point Contest” for September were published by Geiger. Harbour and Allen Lindsey were the winners. The October 6^th memorandum also for the first time set forth the ranks of the 14 Corps members. Because the memorandum showed the points for September, it did not include John Jenkins, who joined in October, thus bringing the Corps to the 15 members who would travel to Arlington on November 5^th.

During the summer and fall of 1960, George Carroll had recommended the purchase of drums from Buck Soistman, the renowned maker of authentic rope tension drums. Carroll knew Soistman because earlier that year Soistman had completed a set of drums ordered by Carroll for the Old Guard Corps and Carroll had traveled to Soistman’s drum shop to pick them up. Colonial Williamsburg also had known about Soistman as early as 1953. Soistman was producing the “Grand Republic” model drum (the name originated with Gus Moeller), which Carroll says “describes the size of the drum: 21” X 17” at the head.” Colonial Williamsburg ordered two 21” drums, to be painted red and emblazoned with a gold “GR”, the royal cipher. The two “GR” drums would be delivered in time to make the trip to Arlington. Two more Soistman drums would be purchased in 1961. Soistman also loaned the Corps drums during this time. Two of these drums where emblazoned with a large shield. These same drums also had been loaned to the Old Guard Corps in 1960.

Soistman also had made Carroll’s “Eagle” drum that appears in many photographs of the Corps. Its color often is described as “yellowish” but Carroll explains that the shell is made of maple with a varnish that darkened to the color; it is not painted. Carroll played the drum in President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration parade. The eagle design had been painted by Melvin R. Doxin, who was a member of the Monumental City Fife and Drum Corps in Baltimore, which also was Soistman’s Corps. According to Carroll, Doxin painted a lot of Soistman’s drums and he also became a master drum maker.

Since June of 1959, the Corps had been playing one of the original bass drums that had been on display in the Powder Magazine. In August or September of 1960 Carroll replaced the heads on this drum. Later, in November, Geiger requested permission from the curator to use a second original drum on display at the Powder Magazine. New heads were put on that drum by Carroll at that time.

This second bass drum was made with staves, like a barrel. According to Carroll “it weighed a ton.” This drum, with the staves visible, shows up in many early photos of the Corps. Both of the original drums would remain in service until 1964, when new bass drums were purchased from Soistman.

The fifes being played during 1960 were the same Penzel-Mueller Cloos Crosby model that was used for the first performance on July 4, 1958. Where the additional fifes came from, as with those purchased in 1958, remains a mystery. In an August 1961, photo, twelve fifers clearly are playing this model fife. One of two explanations is possible: Geiger ordered a dozen or more fifes in 1958, or additional fifes were purchased from time to time.

On October 19,1960, the Corps performed for the first time with the Old Guard Corps at the Yorktown Day ceremonies. The Old Guard Corps was just eight months old.

At 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 5, 1960, four cars containing 15 Corps members and five adults left Williamsburg for Arlington, Virginia, for the Southeastern States Ancient Muster. Three of the adults, Geiger, Luther Mitchell and Captain Payne, would march in costume with the Corps. The other two adults, Earl Soles and John W. Harbour, Jr., served as assistants and drivers. Also attending the muster was the Old Guard Corps, making its second appearance with the Corps in less than a month.

Over the years Carroll advocated for trips by the Corps as a way to promote the Corps, and thus Colonial Williamsburg. Carroll says “it also was a way to give the boys objectives and to keep them interested, and they served as a reward for their hard work.”

Just 11 days later, on November 16^th, the Old Guard Corps and the CW Corps appeared together for a third time at a “Colonial Militia Muster” in Williamsburg put on for the annual meeting of the Associated Press Managing Editors. This muster was important to both corps because of the huge press coverage that would result. A press release publicizing the muster said “some forty costumed fifers and drummers will provide authentic military music while thirty militia men fire vollies from their 200-year-old Brown Bess muskets in a variety of formations.” The muster was a huge success. It also was the third joint performance of the Old Guard Corps and the Colonial Williamsburg Corps in 1960.

The Corps performed over the 1960 Christmas holidays. Geiger was concerned that six of the fifteen members were high school seniors who would be leaving the Corps after they graduated in 1961. The six seniors were John Harbour, Linc Peters, Talmadge Alphin, Allen Lindsey, J.P. Cottingham and ______. On January 11, 1961, Geiger wrote to Harbour about recruiting for the Corps, stating:

By January 18, 1961, I would like to have you submit to Mr. Soles the names of the boys you know who are possible candidates for the Fife and Drum Corps. This should include fifers, field drummers and bass drummers. When this information is supplied to Mr. Soles I should like it to include the name of the boy, age, grade in school, school attending, home address, and some statement about musical background or training. I believe that I asked you for this information a week or so ago, so please let me have it as soon as possible
Letter from William Geiger to John Harbour, January, 1961

In February of 1961, Geiger ordered two more 21” drums from Soistman and added, “I want to thank you for permitting us to continue to use the drums that we borrowed from you, and that you will permit us to do this until our two new drums are completed.”

The regular Militia musters started in March of 1961 and the payrolls started to report the ranks of the Corps members. The rank structure had been proposed by Carroll. Geiger proposed hiring Carroll as a consultant. In a March 22, 1961, memorandum to Goodbody, Geiger said:

As you know, I have expressed my concern about the problems we face in sustaining our Fife and Drum Corps. Through hard work and an expenditure of a considerable amount of money, our Fife and Drum Corps developed so that its performance at Christmas, and prior to that time, was remarkably good. During 1961, we face a turnover of some six boys in this Corps and we have recruited the necessary replacements. At the present time, we are undertaking to train these boys and I am relying on Evans Harbour, Allen Lindsey and Jimmie Teal to do this job for us. Despite the best efforts of these boys, I am definitely concerned about the future of the Fife and Drum Corps. It is impossible without adequate instruction for the Fife and Drum Corps to improve on its present performance. The best we can hope for it to sustain the Corps and preserve its present level of performance. It seems to me that it is essential to provide funds for a person such as George Carroll, to work with this group at certain periods throughout the year. I have discussed this matter with Carroll and I feel that it would be in our interest to have the opportunity to call upon him some twelve times during the course of the year at my discretion so that he may work with the Corps. I estimate the cost of this consultation to be in the neighborhood of about $700.00 for a one year period. I would, therefore, like to ask your concurrence in presenting this program to the budget committee at an early date.
W.D.G.
March 22, 1951 memorandum from William Geiger to John Goodbody, Vice President and Director of Presentation of Colonial Williamsburg

In April the Corps performed at the opening of the Civil War Centennial in Richmond. In May the Corps performed at the William and Mary Spring Festival and plans were made for the Corps to attend the 1961 Deep River Ancient Muster on July 15^th. Geiger wrote to Ed Olson, Secretary of the muster, advising him the Corps would be attending.

June, 1961, saw the Corps travel to Philadelphia to perform in the annual Freedom Week Celebration, and plans were made for the July 4^th ceremonies in Williamsburg. June also saw the arrival of Carroll as a full-time employee of Colonial Williamsburg. Geiger had known Carroll’s enlistment in the Army was about to end and he had recruited Carroll to become the supervisor of the Corps. He also asked Soles to find additional recruits to be in place when Carroll arrived. Initially there wasn’t enough money in the budget for a full time music instructor so Geiger made Carroll an interpreter at the Wig Shop and later at the Cabinet Shop. On July 5, 1961, Carroll appears for the first time on a payroll for the Militia. In early 1962, Carroll’s interpreter duties ended and he began fulltime with the Corps and the Band of Musick, which he was organizing with Geiger’s support.

By July of 1961, the Corps was up to 26 members, of which 15 would make the trip to the 88^th Deep River Ancient Muster, together with a “special color guard” that included Captain Payne and members of the Militia who put on a musket firing demonstration. Five of the six graduating seniors continued with the Corps through the summer of 1961: Harbour, Lindsey, Alphin, Cottingham and Peters.

The Deep River trip was another huge success. Ed Olsen, Secretary of the muster, wrote Carroll saying “There is little doubt that you made one of the most impressive showings of the entire muster. I hope that the performances our “Southern Ancients” have been specializing in, will help awaken the Connecticut breed. They’ve been asleep for one hundred years.”

The Corps’ second appearance at the Southeastern States Ancient Muster in August resulted in numerous medals, several press articles and congratulations from Carlisle Humelsine, Colonial Williamsburg’s President.

In late 1960 or early 1961, the Corps moved into the Prentiss Store on the Duke of Gloucester Street. It was just a shell of a building, and awaiting remodeling, but it provided space to house the Corps’ drums and equipment, and for practices. Late in 1961, Gene Crane, who had been a fifer in the original Old Guard Corps, joined the Corps as the full time Fife Instructor, but he would soon leave to work in the Printers’ Shop.

During 1962 the Corps saw another year of growth. New recruits were admitted periodically and Corps members moved up in rank to fill vacancies. In January, Carroll, as editor, and Geiger, as assistant editor, published the first issue of The Drummers Assistant, a quarterly journal containing a variety of articles on fifing and drumming, with an emphasis on the ancient style. There would be future articles on musters, music, various fife and drum corps and prominent individuals in the fife and drum community. The Drummers Assistant would be published quarterly for five years, through 1966.

In 1962, the Corps received its first set of standard “dress uniforms” consisting of brown rifle shirts, black britches, white belts and hats with white trim. The Junior Corps marched for the first time in the Kilmarnock Texaco’s Parade in April. For many years into the late 1960’s the Kilmarnock Parade would be an important performance for many new Privates.

In August, the Corps made its first trip to the 77^th Annual Connecticut State Convention in North Haven, Connecticut (the home of the Lancraft Corps), winning several individual medals. The Corps also returned to the Southeastern States Ancient Master in Arlington, Virginia, winning several medals.

By October, 1962, Carroll had completed a book of fife and drum music. He sent the book to Buck Soistman for review and approval by the Company of Military Historians. The reviewing board consisted of Ed Olsen (Secretary of the New York Fife and Drum Association and the same person who had been advising Geiger as early as 1959), Harold L. Peterson (Chief Curator of the National Park Service and the same person who in 1960 had informed Colonial Williamsburg about Carroll’s work organizing and training the Old Guard Corps) and Soistman. This first publication was titled The Carroll Collection of Ancient Martial Musick, Volume 1, and it would become known as the “red book” by generations of Corps’ fifers and drummers. In 1963, Volume 2 of the Carroll Collection was published and it became known as the “white book.” Patsy Cooperman Ellis, Cooperman’s daughter, remembers when she was a young girl, selling dozens of the red and white books from the back of the family station wagon at New England musters, together with her father’s drumsticks and fifes.

The Corps also performed in a Militia muster on Market Square that was recorded for a 45 rpm record to be inserted into a book titled America’s First Army. During the muster the Corps played five tunes: America; British Grenadiers; Country Dance; The Duke of York’s March; and The Harriet.

Sometime in late 1962 or early 1963, the Corps moved from the Prentiss Store to the old Colonial Williamsburg “Visitor Center” in a building (now torn down) that was located near the old Abby Aldrich Museum (across the street from the current Lodge and where the current “Spa at Williamsburg” is located).

By this time the Corps’ repertoire had grown to over 50 tunes and drum beatings.