# Please Help Me Find Something I Read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516 "2018-08-30T12:08:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/1 "2018-08-30T12:08:49Z")
It may have been a short story but I remember it distinctly as being a poem. If it is a poem it is most definitely NOT _Drummer Hodge_ or _Drummer Boy of Shiloh_. A soldier in battle draws a bead on and kills the young drummer (piper?) of the opposing force. At some point he is questioned about his decision to kill an unarmed boy. His response is that the one who rallies the soldiers to battle is at least as dangerous (and culpable) as the armed soldier. I read this about 30 years ago in school (don’t recall if it was in a collection or a xeroxed hand-out.) Any help would be appreciated as I want to read it to a child of mine who doesn’t grasp that the one who incites the riot is as guilty as the rioters. Thank-you; Zeke ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/2 "2018-08-30T17:17:34Z")
Maybe Kipling? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/3 "2018-08-30T21:53:11Z")
Should we really help you seek something, since you’ll only destroy it? I did some searching but didn’t find a fictional fable (poetry or prose) concerning shooting the drummer boy. But this page on Quora has some interesting points of view on whether or not drummers were targeted in the American Civil War, including: > [@](#): > > Ensigns, officers and musicians took a higher than average causality rate simply because they were in the center of the formation, which was where the vast majority of enemy shots were pointed at, not because enemy line troops were able to pick them out individually as targets. > **[U.S. Civil War: Were the drummer boys the first to get shot in battle?](https://www.quora.com/U-S-Civil-War-Were-the-drummer-boys-the-first-to-get-shot-in-battle)** > > Answer (1 of 12): Volley fire was seldom close enough, or allowed troops enough time to pick out individual targets. The muskets, and even rifled muskets of that era were aimed at the enemy formation, not at individuals, and most shots missed the... ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/4 "2018-08-31T17:20:26Z")
Thank-you guys for the efforts. It is also possible the drummer is taken prisoner and is hanged with the other prisoners. As I say, it was over 30 years ago. I do know for sure that the point of it was the equal culpability of the one who rallies the soldiers to fight. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/5 "2018-08-31T18:25:48Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#): > > Thank-you guys for the efforts. > > It is also possible the drummer is taken prisoner and is hanged with the other prisoners. As I say, it was over 30 years ago. > > I do know for sure that the point of it was the equal culpability of the one who rallies the soldiers to fight. That sounds an awful lot like the General’s conversation with the boy in Drummer Boy of Shiloh. You might want to read it through again. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/6 "2018-09-01T07:15:49Z")
On your suggestion I gave a closer look at the Bradbury story and that wasn’t it. The poem (or story) definitely ends up with one dead drummer (piper) specifically because he was a drummer (piper.) The tone is not one of, “no small parts” but rather, “you kill with your drum (pipes) by driving and rallying the ones who kill directly.” I appreciate the suggestion though, and I did read it because you are pretty sharp, but alas. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/7 "2018-09-01T08:46:03Z")
There’s Kipling’s short story [The Drums of the Fore and Aft](https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kipling/rudyard/wee/complete.html#chapter4), but I don’t think it really fits your description. Two drummer boys rally a broken regiment and are killed, but it’s not clear that they were killed deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/8 "2018-09-01T08:50:07Z")
Drummers (Pipers) incite wars? ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/9 "2018-09-01T19:05:34Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > There’s Kipling’s short story [The Drums of the Fore and Aft](https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kipling/rudyard/wee/complete.html#chapter4), but I don’t think it really fits your description. > > Two drummer boys rally a broken regiment and are killed, but it’s not clear that they were killed deliberately. Yeah, I read that one but it wasn’t it. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Drummers (Pipers) incite wars? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/10 "2018-09-02T00:59:12Z")
[One of Aesop’s Fables](http://www.taleswithmorals.com/aesop-fable-the-trumpeter-taken-prisoner.htm), though it’s a theme others have [touched on since](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trumpeter_Taken_Captive). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/11 "2018-09-02T01:33:23Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Maybe Kipling? 😕 I don’t know, you naughty boy…I’ve never kipled. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/12 "2018-09-02T11:12:36Z")
> [@tavalla](#): > > [One of Aesop’s Fables](http://www.taleswithmorals.com/aesop-fable-the-trumpeter-taken-prisoner.htm), though it’s a theme others have [touched on since](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trumpeter_Taken_Captive). Thank-you very much. In my memory it was longer and I was older (I read Aesop’s at about 8) but that certainly captures every element of what I remember. Thank-you again. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/13 "2018-09-03T00:20:05Z")
I’ve read a lot about the Civil War, and I’ve never read that musicians or drummer boys were ever targeted. Color-bearers and officers were, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/14 "2018-09-03T03:42:08Z")
I don’t believe it was meant as a factual account. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/15 "2018-09-03T12:37:24Z")
There’s this account from [here](https://www.scotclans.com/bagpipes-a-weapon-of-war/): > [@](#): > > James Reid was one of several pipers who played at the Battle of Culloden. He was captured along with 558 men by Cumberland’s troops and taken to England. There James was put on trial and accused of high treason against the English Crown. Piper Reid claimed that he was innocent because he did not have a gun or a sword. He said that the only thing he did that day on the battlefield was play the bagpipe. > > After some deliberation the judges had a different opinion on the matter. They said that a highland regiment never marched to war without a piper at its head. Therefore, in the eyes of the law, the bagpipe was an instrument of war. James Reid was condemned and subsequently hanged then drawn and quartered. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-something-i-read/820516/16 "2018-09-03T21:55:08Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > There’s this account from [here](https://www.scotclans.com/bagpipes-a-weapon-of-war/): That sounds pretty much spot on what remember.