Marching into battle with a guy with a snare drum setting the pace. Franco-Prussian war? Or was it outdated even by then?
edit:By ‘Civil War’ i’m referring to the American Civil War.
According to a trivia site I found the Battle of Isandhlwana on Jan 22, 1879 was the last time drummers were used, but there is no cite given and this could be about as accurate as a Snapple bottle for all I know.
Wikipedia article about the battle, in case you are curious (doesn’t mention drummers):
Other sites say the U.S. Civil War was the last to use drummers, but those may be American-centric.
A quick google search returns references to marching Drummers being still used during the second Boer war (1899-1902). Does British battalions in Colonial India count as “western”? I think it’s likely Drummers were used right up to independence in 1947 as the British Indian Army was more traditional than the actual British Army. Also they were fighting traditional cavalry right until 1919, eg the Third Anglo-Afghan war: