RARE – Civil War soldier’s brass snare drum with leather sling and drumsticks

This is a rare Civil War drum being offered; it has a brass shell with a diameter of 14” and is 10” high. It has the original heads, ropes, and leather adjusters. It also has the leather drumstick sling with the widest part being 4”, the brass drumstick holder with two brass-capped drumsticks.

These drums are often called the “French-style”, drums because they were heavily imported in 1861, mostly by Northern outfitters who wanted to secure lucrative state and government supply contracts. Unlike wooden body drums, the brass examples produced far more volume in the field, and they were widely sought after by drummers.

In “A Pictorial History of Civil War era Musical Instruments & Military Bands”, by Garofalo and Elrod, they state “Although the overwhelming majority of Civil War drummers played on rope tension drums made of wood, metal shelled drums with rope tension were not uncommon during the war. There are early photographs which depict entire military drum corps using rope tension snare drums with metal shells.”

I show a very similar drum which belonged to Corporal Nehemiah Davis who served in the 18th Massachusetts and then served in the 32nd Massachusetts. It is a brass drum but without sling and drumsticks (see pictures).

This drum grouping has always been together – all the brass parts have the same untouched patina. The condition overall is in very good condition….the leather sling split apart at one time, but a modern repair was applied to reattach it. It is well done and not very obvious. An original grouping as this is something that is very rare and seldom makes it to the open market.