The Marietta Chapter Sons of the American Revolution Color Guard and new Fife and Drum Corps participated Friday in the Marietta Fourth of July Parade. The group started a Fife and Drum Corps as preparations are gearing up to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year. The group is looking at bringing in other people to be involved while they have had some interest shown from others. (Photo provided)

The musical sights and sounds of the American Revolution have been on display recently with the new Marietta Chapter Sons of the American Revolution’s Fife and Drum Corps.

The chapter created a ceremonial military-style Fife and Drum Corps as would have been common for most regiments at the time of the American War for Independence.

Jean Yost, chapter secretary, said there were a number of Fife and Drum Corps throughout Ohio back in 1976 during the nation’s bicentennial.

Although there are still a few today, it was important for the chapter to set this group up because of the area’s history and many connections to the American Revolution.

“Fort Harmar was set up in 1785, just two years after the American Revolution,” Yost said.

Oscar Yost marched in Marietta’s Fourth of July parade last week as part of the Marietta Chapter Sons of the American Revolution new Fife and Drum Corps. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“Many of the officers and soldiers there had been in the American Revolution.

“They were wearing the same uniforms and the same style as they had worn during the American Revolution.”

They styled the new group after the Fort Harmar Fife and Drum Corps.

The group first participated in last Friday’s Fourth of July Parade in Marietta and the group will be on hand Wednesday during the the 238th Anniversary of the Ordinance of 1787 Celebration at 10:30 a.m. at the Start Westward Monument in East Muskingum Park on Front Street where Paul LaRue, President of the Ohio State Board of Education, and Gov. Mike DeWine will be on hand.

“It really set the tone for celebrating the Fourth of July and other events leading to America’s 250th anniversary,” Yost said.

Battles during the Revolutionary War had begun a couple of years before 1776 and continued on through 1783.

“There will be a lot of commemorations of different events that occurred during the American Revolution,” Yost said.

Wednesday’s event will commemorate Fort Harmar and the opening up of the new territory that was established that was free of slavery and had special rights for women (under the Ordinance of 1787) which happened before the Constitution was ratified in early December 1787 through June 1788.

“The Fife and Drum Corps was a way to commemorate these guys who served and gave us the country we have today,” Yost said.

The Fife and Drum Corps will be under the guidance of Drum Major Seth White. White has played and performed with many types of bands and ensembles, including serving with multiple units of the United States Army Band, according to a press release from the chapter.

The Fife and Drum Corps wears uniforms patterned after George Washington’s original Continental Army during the last years of the Revolutionary War and by musicians at Fort Harmar in 1785. They resemble the continental musicians’ uniforms, but are different from the continental soldiers’ uniforms.

The Fife and Drum Corps are wearing red coats like the British Army. During war, the fifers and drummers wore the opposite colors of the regiment to which they were a part, according to the press release.

By wearing the reversed colors, the fifers and drummers would hopefully not be deliberately shot by the opposing side since they were in effect unarmed and during the battle would often act as medical personnel to take care of the wounded.

The military musician of that time helped to convey orders through signals.

“Because there’s a lot of confusion on the battlefield, in order to grab the musician quickly, they identified him with a different colored coat,” the press release said.

The Fife and Drum Corps had three people locally who participated in the Fourth of July Parade with the chapter’s regular Color Guard.

They have had others show some interest. They are looking to possibly recruit some young people from local high schools.

“If you look at our region here, my guess is that around 85% of the population traces their ancestry back to a man or a woman who served in the American Revolution,” Yost said, adding that around 7,000 people migrated to Ohio following the Revolution.

“Washington County was the starting place for it all,” he said.