View source for H. C. Hart

{{Short description|American drum major}}
'''H. C. Hart''' was an American [[Drum major (military)|drum major]] in the [[71st New York Infantry]] during the [[American Civil War]] and an influential [[fife and drum]] manual author.
== Biography ==
Colonel H. C. Hart was educated as a military drummer at the military academy in [[Middletown, Connecticut]]<ref name="fifer">{{Cite web|url=https://beafifer.com/hart.htm|title = Col. H.C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum}}</ref> under Professor Partridge.<ref name="clark">Clark, James. ''Connecticut’s Fife and Drum Tradition.'' Wesleyan University Press, 2011.</ref> Hart was later praised for his instruction of the 102nd Regiment by its Drum Major Levi Elmendorf.<ref name="hart" /> Near the beginning of the Civil War (dates differ among sources) he was hired by Quartermaster George W. Rosevelt of the 71st Regiment of the New York State Militia <ref name="matt">{{Cite web |url=https://mattatuck.org/history.html |title=The History of the Mattatuck Drum Band |access-date=2020-01-14 |archive-date=2020-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114180440/https://mattatuck.org/history.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> to form a regimental band. Hart then set out to hire the best musicians he could find. In Connecticut, he hired Henry Chatfield, who he made leader and instructor, and fifers Hezekiah and Leslie Todd from the Wolcott Drum Band <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://web.tapr.org/~wa1lou/whs/oldnews200906.html|title=News}}</ref> along with several other drummers and fifers. The balance of the band was gathered from around the state and several further members came from New York City.
The 71st was then attached to the Army of the Potomac, where [[Ulysses S. Grant|General Grant]] saw them perform and reportedly commented: "Well boys, I never heard such a Hell of a racket from so few drums in my life."<ref name="matt" />  In order to help with the training of new musicians, Hart wrote and published his book, ''Col. H. C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum with Original Notation'', in either 1861 or 1862 (again, sources differ on the date).<ref name="fifer" /><ref name="lsu">Chandler, Eric Alan, "A History of Rudimental Drumming in America From the Revolutionary War to the Present." (1990). LSU
Historical Dissertations and Theses. 4901.</ref> The book used a relatively obscure [[drum rudiments|rudimental]] notation system that he learned from Wolcott Drum Band member Samuel Wilcox.<ref name="fifer" /> Wolcox's notation system is a unique code that appears in no other known publication of any era.<ref name="lsu" /> Despite the strange look of the notation, the book was well received by contemporary critics and colleagues,<ref name="hart">Hart, H. C., Colonel. ''Col. H.C. Hart's new and improved instructor for the drum : with original notation.'' New York : William Hall & son, 1862.</ref> and continued to be used by the Wolcott Drum Band and the Moodus Fife and Drum Corps after the war.<ref name="matt" />
Hart's Instructor also contained standard instruction for the fife, bugle, and uniquely for its era, bass drum,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historyoftheancients.wordpress.com/category/civil-war/|title=Two Drummers, Two Legacies|last=|first=|date=|website=History of the Ancients|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> plus a number of popular tunes outside of the pure camp duty calls. The book was notable for its wide range of [[drum rudiments]], some of which were unique to Hart, and its attention to the details necessary for complete beginners and students of otherwise low initial skill level.<ref name="clark" />
==Publications==
* ''Col. H. C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum with Original Notation''
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Rudimental Percussion}}
[[Category:19th-century American male musicians]]