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Words by John Mitchum
Narrated by John Wayne
It was July in Virginia.
The scent of the dogwood and the laurel lay heavy on the land,
While the burgeoning fruit of the peach and the apple
Marked the full sway of summer.
For seven fateful days, the trees, the flowers...
Yes, the very ground itself...
Had shuddered under the roar of cannon...
The bark of howitzers, and the crackling of a legion of rifles.
Now, all was silent.
The sledgehammer blows of Robert E. Lee and
"Stonewall" Jackson had mauled the Army of the Potomac...
And yet that army was not destroyed.
Seven thousand men had fallen in that dreadful week...
and the savagery of the conflict Was grimly evident
in the river of wounded...that wound through the green hills.
Now, a new sound drifted in the soft evening sky.
For Colonel Dan Butterfield, a courageous and able soldier,
...Was also a man of music.
To honor his fallen comrades,
he had composed a simple and heartrending melody.
On July second, in the year 1862.
Its strains floated over the graves that
scarred the dark Virginia earth.
It has been more than a hundred years
since that sound was born...
but these notes have never died away.
Every night of the year...
throughout the world, fighting men of America,
From the North and the South, the East and the West,
Close their eyes in sleep to its call.
And in each of their hearts...
there glows a fierce surge of pride.
"Fading light...falling night...
Trumpet calls as the sun sinks in flight.
Sleep in peace, comrades dear...
God is near."
Taps
Day is done,
gone the sun,
From the hills,
from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.
Go to sleep,
peaceful sleep.
May the soldier
or sailor,
God keep.
On the land
or the deep,
Safe in sleep.
Love, good night,
Must thou go,
When the day,
And the night
Need thee so?
All is well.
Speedeth all
To their rest.
Fades the light; And afar
Goeth day,
And the stars
Shineth bright,
Fare thee well;
Day has gone,
Night is on.
Thanks and praise,
For our days,
'Neath the sun,
Neath the stars,
'Neath the sky,
As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.
While there are no words to Taps per se;
those given above are likely the most common.
There is a poignant myth about the origin of Taps
that is circulating about the Internet.
The true story is that in July 1862,
after the Seven Days battles at Harrison's Landing
(near Richmond), Virginia,the wounded Commander
of the 3rd Brigade,1st Division, V Army Corps,
Army of the Potomac,General Daniel Butterfield reworked,
with his bugler Oliver Wilcox Norton,
another bugle call, to create Taps.
As soon as Taps was sounded that night in July 1862,
words were put with the music. The first were...
"Go To Sleep, Go to Sleep."
As the years went on many more versions were created.
There are no official words to the music but the lyrics above
are one of the more popular verses.
After the war, Taps became an official bugle call.
More about the history of Taps can be found HERE
  
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