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This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis ~Paul Sweeney

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Taps

Did You Know? - "Taps" is a famous musical piece, sounded by the U.S. military nightly to indicate that it is "lights out". The tune is also sometimes known as "Butterfield's Lullaby", or by the lyrics of its second verse, "Day is Done". It is also played during flag ceremonies and funerals, generally on bugle or trumpet.

The tune is actually a variation of an earlier bugle call known as the "Scott Tattoo" which was used in the U.S. from 1835 until 1860, and was arranged in its present form by the Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, an American Civil War general who commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division in the V Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac while at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, in July 1862 to replace a previous French bugle call used to signal "lights out". Butterfield's bugler, Oliver W. Norton, of Erie, Pennsylvania, was the first to sound the new call. Within months, Taps was used by both Union and Confederate forces. It was officially recognized by the United States Army in 1874.