Rogers Field Drum: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This field drum was made by A. Rogers in Flushing, New York, around 1862-1864. It has a blue-painted shell with a painted eagle design with a banner held in the eagle’s beak inscribed “REG: U.S. INFANTRY,” and two skin heads. There are two red-painted wood hoops drilled with 10 holes each for rope which is laced through leather ears, used to tighten the hoops. The shell is reinforced with brass tacks in a design around the vent hole. There is a printed label inside the shell that is inscribed:

A. Rogers was one of many drum makers which were granted contracts to produce drums for the Army. This drum, like many of the era, most likely was an Army surplus drum as it lacks any specific regiment markings.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1862-1864
• Object Name: drum
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: paint (overall material)
• Physical Description: leather (overall material)
• place made: United States: New York, Queens, Flushing
• ID Number: 1980.0399.0025
• accession number: 1980.0399
• catalog number: 1980.0399.0025
• Credit Line: Bequest of Charles Bremner Hogg Jackson
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.