all in regulation uniforms, when the truth is that there was scarcely a uniformed regiment in the army. The grand old fellows fought in their hunting garb, or the dress they wore on the farm, in the store, the church, or the tavern; and while they may not have used wooden horns, it is very probable that many a Continental bugler carried an old cow’s-horn, with which to sound the reveille.
Fig. 111.
But the bugle which sounded the death-knell of the great Indian chief Tecumseh was
The Old Wooden Horn of Captain Bob Collins.
It was made of two cedar slabs, three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness, and these were trimmed and bent so that when their edges were joined they formed a funnel-shaped instrument which was about four inches in diameter at the bell or larger end, and tapered down to a convenient size at the small end, or mouth-piece. The two cedar slabs were held in place by hoops made of cow’s-horn.
Whether it was a habit acquired in the army, or whether Captain Bob was once a flat-boatman, is not recorded, but certain it is that the doughty Captain always sounded the reveille at sunrise, and it was not until 1864, when death called the old man home, that the neighbors, for miles around, saw the sun rise unheralded by the notes of the quaint instrument.
To make a horn like Captain Bob’s requires nice work in steaming, bending, and joining the cedar slabs, but Captain Bob belonged to the Barlow-knife age, and undoubtedly knew how to use one.
Fortunately for boys less skilful than this old pioneer, our ancestors have furnished us another kind of horn, which any boy can make. The original sketches, from which the accompanying diagrams are drawn, were made for the author by a very old gentleman who was himself once a flat-boatman and used the Wabash horn.
This instrument is known as