CWF&D Comes of Age: 1963 – 1967
During 1963, the Corps continued to perform at regular Militia musters and special events. In July the Corps traveled to Agawam, Massachusetts, to enter the Fife, Drum and Bugle Association Muster, sending 19 members of the Senior Corps and 14 members of the Junior Corps. The Corps also returned to Deep River for the second time for the 90th Deep River Ancient Muster and to the Southeastern States Ancient Muster for the fourth, and last, time.
Also attending the Deep River Muster in 1963 was the newly created Colonial Williamsburg Band of Musick. Most of its initial members were fifers and drummers from the Corps. The band would grow over the years and employ mostly adults. They played at various special events and regularly scheduled concerts. Turnover of the musicians would be a problem, which cost the band the ability to maintain continuity and to develop. It was disbanded in 1971. Unfortunately, space here does not permit a more detailed review of the Band of Musick, but its sound was truly unique and universally enjoyed by visitors.
In 1963, George Carroll introduced Pat Cooperman to the Colonial Williamsburg Sales Department, which led to Cooperman making toys to be sold in the gift shops. These sales required Cooperman to increase his staff and production facilities. Cooperman-made toys are still sold at the CW gift shops.
In late 1963 or early 1964 the Corps moved from the Old Visitor Center to the Travis House, which was located on the Southwest corner of Francis Street and South Henry Street across the street from the old Williamsburg Post Office. The Travis house was later moved to the northeast corner of that intersection, its present location.
An important development in the growth of the Corps began in 1963. In prior years most new Corps members were high school students who would serve only a few years before leaving the Corps after graduating from high school. In 1962 there were a few younger recruits but in 1963 a number of younger boys, ages 10-11, were recruited. Over time, as the younger recruits aged up, they became better trained musicians for the Senior Corps. For the next several years the average age of Recruits would get younger.
In 1971, the young Recruits of 1964-1967 would play an important part in the Corps’ history, when they provided the experience, music skills and leadership that helped sustain the Corps during the six-month gap between George Carroll’s resignation and the hiring of John Moon.
In March of 1964 the Junior Corps began performing the “Beating of the Drums” on Saturdays. This program gave the new Privates and Drummers and Fifers an opportunity to perform. Several Senior Corps members also would perform. The Junior Corps was growing with increasing numbers of younger Recruits, but it would not become a truly separate corps with its own performing schedule for many years. Through the 1960’s the fife and drum classes continued to be taught by Senior Corps members, but the classes contained all Junior Corps members, regardless of skill level. Bill White, Sr., compared the classes to a “one-room school house with everyone in there together.”
The Corps made its third trip to Deep River to attend the 91st Deep River Ancient Muster in July of 1964 and returned with the “Challenge Cup”, awarded by the Company of Military Historians to the most authentically dressed unit (there are no fifing and drumming competitions at the Deep River muster).
In May of 1965, the Corps moved from the Travis House to Cameron Hall, a long block away. Cameron Hall was an unused auditorium on the old Eastern State Mental Hospital grounds,which were located on a tract of land between South Henry Street and Nassau Street on the site of what are now the Colonial Williamsburg “Public Hospital” and the Dewitt Wallace Gallery. Cameron Hall was located directly on Francis Street near its intersection with Nassau Street. The building had an auditorium with a stage upstairs, which was off limits to the Corps and the home of countless roosting pigeons. The Corps occupied the lower level, which had a large main room with a very tall ceiling. Tiles were installed on the ceiling to help break up the noise but after a few years they began falling and crashing on the floor. On one end of the building there was the second floor that had an office (Carroll’s office) and a small locker room. Other parts of the building were not habitable and only the bravest, or most foolish, ventured in to those areas. Eastern State had not completely closed down and patients frequently walked the grounds and watched outdoor practices of the Corps. The Eastern State infirmary and morgue were located in a building next door to Cameron Hall, which added to the mystique of the location. In the large field next to Cameron Hall was a magnificent old magnolia tree under which the Corps held many practices. The tree is still standing in 2018.
July of 1965 saw two significant changes for the appearance of the Corps. First, the Corps received new regimental uniforms representing the Second Virginia Regiment. The coat was red faced with blue and the britches and waistcoat were off white. Second, the four Soistman 21” drums were repainted as the “Virginia for Constitutional Liberty” drums. Bill White explains the design of the drums was based on a Virginia Gazette account, ca. 1775, from a Virginia Committee of Safety who put that motto on the county’s independent company’s flag and recommended that other counties follow suit. The changes were made just in time for the Corps’ trip to the 80th Connecticut State Convention on August 7th.
Also in July, the Junior Corps performed in Yorktown for July 4th ceremony. A description of the Junior Corps of the 1960’s is necessary, in order to distinguish it with the Junior Corps of the 1970’s and later. In the early 1960’s the Junior Corps primarily was a learning and training group. It did not have its own performance schedule, except for the Saturday “Beating of the Drums” and occasional parades outside of Williamsburg. Senior Corps members almost always joined the Junior Corps to supplement these performances. Conversely, Junior Corps members often were thrust into the Senior Corps to fill the ranks. By the late 1960’s the practice of admitting younger boys, that had begun in 1963, began to result in a larger number of boys in the Junior Corps (records show there were approximately 50 boys in the Junior Corps in 1967, and 23 in the Senior Corps), and more structure and identity, but the Junior Corps did not have an independent schedule. Junior Corps classes contained all skill levels, in the “one-room school house” as described by Bill White.
In the spring of 1966, George Kusel joined the staff as the Fife Instructor and Administrator, a position which he held for two years. Kusel was a fifer and had been a member of the Old Guard Corps, and his enlistment had just ended. Kusel was a calligrapher and he designed rank certificates and years of service certificates. In 1967, everyone received a certificate based on their rank and years in service (the minimum was three years’ service to get one of these certificates). To prepare the certificates Kusel prepared a roster containing everyone’s start dates, because there were no “classes” of recruited admitted in a single group. The roster showed 6 different start days in 1963, 8 in 1964, 22 in 1965, 15 in 1966 and 27 in 1967.
Also in the spring of 1966, the Corps performed at a Sons of the American Revolution ceremony in Richmond, and made its first TV show appearance in an episode of “Lassie, the Traveler”, which was aired in October.
In August of 1966, the Corps again traveled to New England for the 81st Connecticut State Convention, winning numerous medals. In September, 1966, the Corps hosted the first “Music Muster” in Williamsburg. Fife and Drum Corps from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland and a fifer and drummer from the Old Guard Corps attended. The muster included fifing and drumming competitions. Future musters would be called “Field Musick Days”.
By 1967 the proficiency of the Corps had grown significantly under Carroll’s leadership and that year saw the Corps perform in three significant “first performances.” The first was a performance in a “Great Tattoo” with the Old Guard Corps on the Mall in Washington, D.C., the second was a trip to Canada, and the third was a performance for President Lyndon B. Johnson and other high level government officials and foreign ambassadors.
In April of 1967, the Corps performed in a “Great Tattoo” with the Old Guard Corps and two other U.S. military bands. The Old Guard Corps dates to February 23, 1960, when it was activated on orders from the Military District of Washington to establish the unit. The special relationship of the CW Corps and the Old Guard Corps warrants mention. Indeed, the CW Corps and the Old Guard Corps can be said to be sister corps, with the CW Corps being over a year older than the Old Guard Corps.
As sister corps, the Old Guard and the CW Corps trace common roots both to the historical period they depict, and to George Carroll. The relationship between the Corps began in 1960 when Carroll, still on active duty with The U. S. Army Band (but detached to the Old Guard Corps), traveled to Williamsburg in May with a 1LT. Glen Watson. They were seeking assistance from Colonial Williamsburg for the Old Guard Corps. The May of 1960, meeting with Bill Geiger led to Carroll’s providing instruction to the fledgling CW Corps in the summer and fall of 1960, and to his hiring by Colonial Williamsburg a year later.
In regard to the relationship between the CW Corps and the Old Guard Corps, 1960 is a significant year because the two Corps performed together three times: the first occasion was Yorktown Day, October 19th; the second was November 5th at the Southeastern States Ancient Muster in Arlington; and the third was by special invitation of Colonial Williamsburg to the Old Guard Corps to perform on November 16th in Williamsburg at a “Colonial Militia Muster” for the Associated Press Managing Editors meeting. This third performance was truly a unique event which Colonial Williamsburg set up as a special Muster that included an encampment, displays and fireworks on Market Square.
By the mid-1960’s the CW Corps, under the direction of Carroll, was catching up to the Old Guard Corps in proficiency. It’s difficult to say exactly when the CW Corps caught up to the Old Guard Corps but the joint performance of the two corps at the “Great Tattoo” on the Mall in April of 1967 provided a benchmark for that development.
On April 28, 1967, early in the morning, the CW Corps left Williamsburg by bus bound for Washington D.C. They were scheduled to perform that night on the Mall in the first “Great Tattoo” sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and organized by the Company of Military Collectors and Historians, of which Carroll was a Fellow. The CW Corps was one of four units performing. The other three were the Old Guard Corps, the U.S. Air Force Pipe Band and the United States Marine Band. The CW Corps had never performed with such an elite group.
… every CW Senior Corps since that performance has been the equal of the Old Guard Corps
The CW Corps’ first stop was Ft. Meyer, Virginia, for a rehearsal with the Old Guard Corps, because the two corps were assigned several joint sets during the Tattoo. After lunch and rehearsals, the Corps proceeded downtown for dinner and the Tattoo. By prior arrangements with the Smithsonian Institution, the Corps had as its staging area, and changed into its uniforms in, the old Smithsonian “Castle” located on the Mall. The building then housed the aviation museum of the Smithsonian. After the building was closed to the public, the Corps was allowed into the main exhibition room as a staging area, and the Corps changed into their uniforms directly under and amongst the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis and other historic aircraft. That night the CW Corps performed with, and as well as, the Old Guard Corps. Suffice it to say that every CW Senior Corps since that performance has been the equal of the Old Guard Corps.
The relationship between the two corps has been both long and unique. Every CW Corps member has considered the relationship to be an honor and privilege. Joint performances over the years have been regular and numerous. Starting in the early 1970’s, graduates of the CW Corps have joined the Old Guard Corps, further cementing the relationship. There is no doubt the special relationship between the two corps will continue and grow indefinitely.
In the summer of 1967, the Corps also was sent to Canada, its first trip outside of the United States. Four adult chaperones and 25 Corps members made the trip to perform in the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto. The Corps also made a stop at old Fort Niagara.
In September the Corps hosted the second annual Field Musick Day and a visit of the Olympia Fife and Drum Corps from Basel, Switzerland.
On November 11, 1967, the Corps played for an “Extraordinary Dinner” of the Gridiron Club in the Virginia Room of the Lodge. Attending the dinner were a significant number of dignitaries including President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr. (Virginia), Governor Nelson Rockefeller (NY), and the Ambassadors of Great Britain, Germany and France. Tunes played were: Captain Macintosh, Country Dance, Stick Tap Drum Solo, Here’s to the Maiden of Bashful Fifteen, and Yorktown. The President was quoted as saying “A great performance.”
1967 the Corps plays for the Gridiron Club in the Virginia Room at the Lodge. Attending the performance are President Lyndon Johnson and numerous other dignitaries.
1967 the Corps travelled to Toronto, Canada, for the Canadian national Exhibition. On the trip the Corps also performed at Fort Niagara.
1967 photo of the Corps on the Mall in Washington, D.C. during the Great Tattoo.
1965 The Corps moved into Cameron Hall, a former auditorium on the Eastern State Hospital Grounds.
© WHC 2018