Fife and Drum Played by...Indians?

And you thought you had heard everything. I came across this reference while reading the book, My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone. As the title says, it is a series of interviews with the son of Daniel Boone, Nathan Boone, and in the section on the War of 1812, Nathan (who was an officer of the Missouri Rangers during the war) makes an interesting comment during his description of the Battle of the Sinkhole (1815, Fort Howard, near present day Old Monroe, MO) which says that the Indians played fife and drum!

"Soon after [Captain] Musick's arrival, the Indians broke up. One half of them retreated, while the other half took a post in a large sinkhole about fifty or sixty feet in diameter and some ten or twelve feet deep. Where a lower strata of rocks appeared, there was a cave....Captain Musick ordered his men to surround the sinkhole; however, to his surprise, he discovered the Indians were quite secure there and could fire on him with little or no exposure. He tried cannon fire but with no effect. Then a moving battery was prepared, placed on the foreweels of a wagon, and pushed up to fire through portholes in the battery. When the Indians fired at the portholes, Lieutenant Spears and one or two others were killed and some wounded. Some were shot in the legs, which were exposed by the opening beneath the battery. The Indians took refuge in the cave where they had a drum and fife. They kept playing and shooting. This continued till dusk...all the Indians departed. About seven or eight Indians were found dead on the battle ground and in the sinkhole, but about twelve white soldiers were killed or wounded. This was called the Battle of the Sinkhole." (emphasis added)

It was found out later that this party of Indians was led by none other then Black Hawk (who played an important part in the later Blackhawk War). This was one of the last battles of the War of 1812.

I do not know how to explain how the Indians learned to play fife and drum. Perhaps they learned from the British/Canadians that they were supported by. Perhaps these were stolen fifes/drums from American soldiers. I wonder what music they played. Whatever the case, it is an intriguing incident, and shows something of the commonality of the fife and drum in those days.

-Peter Bringe
 Memor!