GREENVILLE – In the 1600s, the French used the term “taptoe,” which meant “turn off the beer taps, lights out,” meaning it was time to sleep. The term was shortened to “Taps.”
Communication was difficult during the Revolutionary War in the United States. Amid the confusion on the battlefield, a change of orders needed to be made over the sounds of cannon and musket fire. Daily orders were required to be announced at a military post so all could hear. The solution was the fife and drum corps, which was always posted near headquarters. The high, shrill notes of the fife carried the message a long distance, as the drum beat hammered different cadences to five messages telling the soldiers when to get up, fall out, and go to bed, etc.
An order to shut off the taps on the kegs would be sent out. It was time to retire. Three short, repeated “taps” would be sent out on the drum. Officers carried a lanyard with a key on it and, upon hearing the order of “taps,” went to lock the taps on the kegs.
Of course, the key was known as a tap key, and the small brass tubular lock turned off was called the tap lock. This end-of-day procedure was known as “TAPS.”
During the Civil War, a bugle call was added to taps at the end of the day. A soldier named Butterfield devised the call. This slow, beautiful, melancholy tune became so popular that it is now played at military funerals and Memorial Day ceremonies.
Anthony Wayne’s Research Group recently recovered a brass “tap lock” while on a metal detector survey, which inspired this article. The pictures show how the kegs were used and locked during “taps” at the end of the day.
