Fife & Drum Corps Muster Spans Centuries

TICONDEROGA, N.Y. - Over its ‘occupied years’ the walls at Fort Ticonderoga would have echoed with the sounds of military music from the French, British and the Revolutionary troops who shaped the North Country and America’s history. Today, the same is true but the music emanates from a single source, the Fort Ticonderoga Fife & Drum Corps.

All that changes when the Fort Ti Corps hosts other groups from around the Northeast at the annual Fort Ticonderoga Muster on the Parade Ground. This year’s muster is slated for Saturday, Aug. 1, and will feature nine corps in all. The additional groups will extend the range of the military music all the way through the Civil War.

Joining the Fort’s Corps for the 2009 Muster are the East Hampton 3rd Connecticut Regiment of Fifes & Drums; Green Mountain Fife & Drum Corps; Seth Warner Mount Independence Fife & Drum Corps; Hanaford’s Volunteers, VT, the 3rd New Jersey Field Music; Colonial Musketeers Fife & Drum Corps, NJ, and Fort George Fife & Drum Corps, Ontario, Canada.

The music will start at 10 a.m. and will continue throughout the day with a rousing finale at 3:30 p.m. Saturday evening at the Hancock House visitors will be treated to a twilight performance as all the units perform a short historical timeline.

Much more than entertainment for the troops of old, a fife and drum corps was a communication tool, calling soldiers to meet, sending signals and sounding out warnings. Fort Ticonderoga’s Corps performs several times daily during July and August and during special functions throughout the year. Drum Major Mike Edson (an elementary school teacher in real life) leads the group of local teens with authentic commands and regulation maneuvers. Fort Ti’s Corps’ parade uniforms that have been funded in by The Stevens Family Fund for the Fife and Drum Corps and others donors and are authentic handmade reproductions of the French Royal-Rousillion and American First New York Regiment. The visiting corps will dress in period uniforms too, as they play military and popular tunes from the Americas Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and Civil War.

Fort Ticonderoga & The King’s Garden are a not-for-profit private site which is open daily from 9:30 to 5:00. The Log House Restaurant and Gift Shop is also open at those times. The admission is $15 for adults, $13.50 for seniors and $7 for children seven to 12. Children 6 and younger are admitted free. Local residents are always welcome to visit the Fort at no charge. See FortTiconderoga.org for a full schedule of family and children’s programs and special events.