As a history buff, I recently learned that fifers were not merely ornamental soldiers who provided marching music. They had a more serious role than that. Fifers were paired (or banded) with drummers (it's where we get the term "band" for any musical group), and together they took orders from their commander, played music that could be heard heard over the battlefield, and communicated tactical moves, such as "flanking move" or "hold the line" etc.
Like many, I had always thought that fifers and drummers were there for morale... nope, they had a tactical use back when there were no field radios or GPS.
As a history buff, I recently learned that fifers were not merely ornamental soldiers who provided marching music. They had a more serious role than that. Fifers were paired (or banded) with drummers (it's where we get the term "band" for any musical group), and together they took orders from their commander, played music that could be heard heard over the battlefield, and communicated tactical moves, such as "flanking move" or "hold the line" etc.
Like many, I had always thought that fifers and drummers were there for morale... nope, they had a tactical use back when there were no field radios or GPS.