May 29, 2006 - 3 PM
Memorial Day in Haleyville
We remember ... and thank them


Taps

"Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh -- Falls the night.
"Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

"Then good night, peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear -- Friend, good night."

Composed By Major General Daniel Butterfield
Army of the Potomac, Civil War

This bugle call was written during the Peninsula Campaign of the Civil War in the year 1862 after a battle near Richmond, Virginia which saw a large number of Union causualties. It is said that the tune came to then Brigade Commander Colonel Daniel Butterfield, while reflecting sadly on the losses. According to the story, Butterfield unable to write music, hummed it to his aide who wrote it down in musical notation. It was preformed that evening by his bugler, Oliver W. Norton in honor of fallen comrades. In 1874, it became officially recognized by the U.S. Army as an alternative to "Lights Out" and since has been used not only to signal that day was done, but also as means of saying good-bye to a fallen comrade, usually accompanied by the drumbeat, Muffled Ruffles. It is customarily played at military funerals across the land. Its composer is buried in the Post Cemetery at the United States Military Academy at West Point although he was not a graduate from the Academy.