​Taps is the bugle call sounded at funerals. The call originated during the Civil War and is sounded every night at US military installations around the words as well as used as the final call at military funerals and memorial services.

Of all the military bugle calls, none is so easily recognized or more apt to evoke emotion than Taps. Up to the Civil War, the traditional call at day’s end was a call borrowed from the French, called "Extinguish Lights." In July of 1862, in the aftermath of the bloody Seven Days battles, hard on the loss of 600 men and wounded himself, Union General Daniel Adams Butterfield called the brigade bugler to his tent. He thought "Extinguish Lights" was too formal and he wished to honor his men.

Oliver Willcox Norton, the bugler, tells the story, "...showing me some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope, (he) asked me to sound them on my bugle. I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night and was heard far beyond the limits of our Brigade. The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighboring Brigades, asking for copies of the music which I gladly furnished. The call was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac."

This more emotive and powerful Taps was soon adopted throughout the military. In 1874 the music was printed in U.S. Army manuals as the final call for the day.

How did the call become associated with funerals? The earliest official reference to the mandatory use of Taps at military funeral ceremonies is found in the U.S. Army Infantry Drill Regulations for 1891, although it had doubtless been used unofficially long before that time, under its former designation "Extinguish Lights."

Willcox wrote: "There is something singularly beautiful and appropriate in the music of this wonderful call. Its strains are melancholy, yet full of rest and peace. Its echoes linger in the heart long after its tones have ceased to vibrate in the air."

The origin of the word "Taps" is thought to have come from the Dutch word for "Tattoo" - "Taptoe." More than likely, "Taps" comes from the three drum taps that were played as a signal for "Extinguish Lights" when a bugle was not used. As with many other customs, the twenty-four notes that comprise this solemn tradition began long ago and continue to this day.

While there are no official lyrics for Taps, the following unofficial verse (author unknown) is often used:

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

In recent years, the Ceremonial Bugle, which uses a digital recording of Taps has been utilized by military honor guards as well as American Legion, VFWs and other Veteran Service Organizations. The Maryland National Guard Honor Guard prides itself on the tradition of using live buglers primarily and uses the digital recording only as a last resort. We will do our utmost to honor the request to have Taps sounded by a live bugler.

For more information on Taps visit: http://www.tapsbugler.com For a sound file of Taps click here http://www.tapsbugler.com/TapsPDFandsound.html