Throwback Thursday: Shaffer Drum Corps

The Shaffer Drum Corps had many members during its six decade run, but two remained constant: John D. Shaffer and Robert Peters. The men were just boys when they organized the drum and fife corps in 1871, learning much of the music from local Civil War veterans.

Martin Klingman and Marion Baldwin joined the corps in 1874, and the foursome built a reputation playing patriotic marches and traditional Civil War music. Also known as the Shaffer Martial Band, the group played GAR reunions, led Memorial Day and Independence Day parades, and headlined town festivals from Decorah to Oelwein.

“The great aim of the corps is to perpetuate the tunes and the drum beats of the Civil War period, and in all probability this is the only corps that furnishes some of the tunes with the most intricate of drum beats, known as the double drag,” said one newspaper account.

In 1930, they were invited to play at Waterloo Cattle Congress. It was the group’s 59th anniversary and Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Peters were still at the lead – Mr. Shaffer using the same teak wood drumsticks from 1871.

Later that year, Dr. Roy DeSart joined the band as a second snare drummer. They played in Lansing June 19-20, 1931, at a two-day celebration for a new bridge across the Mississippi. One week later its leader, John Shaffer, died at age 73.

The surviving members played at Mr. Shaffer’s graveside in Illyria Cemetery on June 29, 1931. Mr. Peters promised to keep the band alive, and a month later they reorganized with a new drummer, though still under the Shaffer name. Mr. Peters died March 1, 1933, and with him, the Shaffer Martial Band.

On March 9, 1933, Dr. DeSart published the following tribute in the Elgin newspaper:

THE OLD DRUM CORPS

Dedicated to John D. Shaffer and Robert Peters

Our rendezvous,
No longer here, It cannot be.
‘Tis with them in eternity.
The old double drag, the rat-a-tat-tum,
The boom boom-boom of the big bass drum,
The screaming fifes that led us on,
Are silent now. Our pals have gone.
Adieu.
With music hushed, we stand and
through
Our tears, we gaze into the blue,
And pray to Him for strength to wait,
With aching heart and burdened soul
The final call - the last long roll.
But hark! It calls! Oh precious
sound!
We of the old drum corps have found
Our rendezvous.