Snare Drum: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This drum was made by an unknown maker in the United states, around 1850-1860. It is a snare drum with a wood shell, wood hoops with holes laced with rope through 10 leather ears, used to tighten the hoops, and metal snares. The bottom drumhead is painted:

SYKE'S [in a maltese cross] US 31 REGULAR'S 2nd DIV 5th CORP's ARMY of the POTOMAC

George Sykes (1822–1880) was a career United States Army officer and a Union General during the American Civil War. He was the commander of the 2nd Division of the V (Fifth) Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1850-1860
• Object Name: drum
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: rope (overall material)
• Physical Description: leather (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 16 in x 20 in x 20 in; 40.64 cm x 50.8 cm x 50.8 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: MI.393794
• accession number: 211893
• catalog number: 393794
• Credit Line: Gift of William F. Cotton
• 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.