Chapter 8 – The Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums Alumni Association

CWF&D 1968 to 1971

In the spring of 1968, Herb Watson joined the staff full time as the Administrator to take over the duties of George Kusel. Watson had joined the Band of Musick in 1967. He was studying music at Old Dominion University in Norfolk and played in a recorder ensemble with Charles Hardin, who was a member of the Band of Musick. Hardin had introduced him to George Carroll. Herb’s innumerable duties over the years included administrator, music arranger and instructor. He remembers “there was a lot of administration when I started.” One of his most difficult duties was scheduling. As the number of performances grew over the years he had to keep track of all the scheduling while striving to assign jobs fairly.

Watson recalls “when John Moon came in, we did a lot of music arrangements with a lot of harmony parts. George [Carroll] did not write many harmony parts unless the original music had them. John also introduced a lot of Scottish tunes.” Watson also worked part time at the Musick Teacher’s Room. He, John Moon and Bill White formed a flute trio. During Watson’s time with the Corps he saw it move from Cameron Hall to the 1932 Courthouse to the Fife and Drum Building. He also taught music theory to the Corps over the years.

Watson was a very highly regarded and admired by generations of Corps alumni until his death in 2018. Over 30 alumni attended his funeral service. Interestingly, he never marched with the Corps. Nonetheless, he is considered by all alumni to be one of them and he was an honored participant in alumni parades and events.

In March of 1968, the Corps recorded its first record album that was shared with the Band of Musick, “The Fifes and Drums and the Band of Musick.” The Corps recorded its selections outdoors at the Colonial Williamsburg Nursery on Quarter Path Road.

In July, the Corps made a trip to Deep River to attend the 95^th Deep River Ancient Muster, which trip would be the last for many years. In September, the Corps hosted the third annual Field Music Day and performed for the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and for a Boy Scout Jamboree in Yorktown. The Corps also performed for the first time in the William & Mary “Sunset Parade” in the Sunken Garden behind the Wren Building.

In the spring of 1969 Burage (“Buzz”) Olsen visited Williamsburg and met with Carroll and the Corps for several days. Olsen had known Carroll for seven or eight years, having met him at a New England muster. Olsen started drumming in 1956 at the age of 11. He and his father were charter members of the Village Volunteers Fife and Drum Corps of Delmar, New York, a town just outside Albany.

Carroll offered Olsen a job as Administrative Assistant and Drum Instructor and Olsen started in May of 1969. He participated in the move from Cameron Hall to the 1932 Courthouse and was a chaperone on the 1970 trip to the 85^th Connecticut State Convention.

When Carroll resigned in the spring of 1971, Olsen returned to New York and resumed his position with the Village Volunteers. He remembers his two years with the Corps with great fondness. Over the years Olsen has remained connected to the Corps alumni and he has returned to Williamsburg to perform in alumni parades.

In September the Corps hosted the fourth Field Musick Day. In 1969, the Corps moved from Cameron Hall to the 1932 Courthouse located on South Henry Street next to the Williamsburg Lodge.

No trip was taken in 1969. However, Carroll and a group of Senior Corps members had created a Confederate fife and drum corps, the 32^nd Virginia Regiment, which went to the Deep River Ancient Muster. The group won the Challenge Cup for the most authentically dressed unit.

In 1970 the Corps returned to the 85^th Connecticut State Convention, sending 26 Corps members and four adults. The cost was $2,231.25. In September the Corps hosted the fifth annual Field Musick Day and performed for Saudi Arabian King Faisal. Also in 1970, the first African-American recruit entered the Corps. Howard “Tom” Curtis had been a student of Carroll’s prior to entering the Corps. Carroll remembers Curtis as an excellent drummer and Curtis would continue to perform and study percussion after leaving the Corps.

All throughout the 1960’s, the Corps had been receiving requests for assistance from other fife and drum corps and individuals doing research. In October 1970, Carroll received a request from Disneyland that he serve as a consultant for a fife and drum corps to be established at the new Disney World in Florida. On October 31^st Carroll responded with a written, detailed outline for the creation of a fife and drum corps, including size, training, costs and equipment. Undoubtedly, the outline had similarities to the TO&E he had drafted for the Old Guard Corps in 1960, ten years earlier.

On December 3, 1970, William D. Geiger died of a heart attack at the age of 44, and the Corps lost its caring and dedicated mentor, and a true friend. Geiger was passionate about the Militia and the Corps. During the early years he adjusted budgets and schedules to help the two organizations. He saw the Militia as a way to help supplement the salaries of his craftsmen. He was never far away from either organization. He narrated Militia musters and he regularly visited the Corps’ headquarters. Carroll also lost his partner of many years in the development and growth of the Corps.

In March of 1971, the Corps performed for President Richard M. Nixon and Virginia governor Linwood Holton. About the same time, the contacts Disney had made with Carroll in 1970 turned into an offer for him to create a fife and drum corps at the new Disney World in Orlando, Florida, which Carroll accepted. In May of 1971, Carroll resigned from Colonial Williamsburg and began his move to Disney World.