Civil Suited : In 'Honor and Glory,' Americus Brass Musicians Re-Create the Sounds and Sights of an Authentic Wartime Regiment Band

By BENJAMIN EPSTEIN

May 7, 1994 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Other bands impersonate the Fab Four. Elvis imitators are a dime a dozen.

The Americus Brass Band, which brings “Honor and Glory: Civil War Memories” to Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa on Sunday, marches to the beat of a different drummer: It aims for a historically accurate portrayal of the 4th Georgia Infantry Regiment Band.

“The 4th Georgia was a town band founded in Americus, Ga., in 1860, one of just two Confederate bands to remain intact throughout the war,” said Kurt Curtis, president of the band. “All of our instruments are authentic, made in the 1860s. The uniforms are replicas of those worn by the original band.

“Even the names of the characters are original, and we’ve done research so that we know their occupations,” Curtis said. “They were townsfolk, butchers, doctors. My particular character was a dentist. We have original letters, and we use them in the show. We even have reviews of the original band from the Augusta Chronicle.”

So how was the real thing?

“The original Americus Brass Band was a typical town band before getting caught up in the war movement,” he said. “For a town band they were (apparently) a strong band, a real fine ensemble--but in all honesty not as strong as this group today. They were townspeople; we’re professional musicians.”

The Americus redux band’s two-act show features 14 musicians and three actors. It was formed in 1976 by students at Cal State Long Beach. Civil War re-enactments had been big for years, and the ensemble built its reputation by appearing at events such as the 125th anniversary of the famous 1863 battle at Gettysburg.

The band since been featured on the movie soundtracks for the four-hour “Gettysburg,” the Oscar-winning “Glory” and “Geronimo.” The group appeared on-screen for the ABC miniseries “North and South.”

Much of the music the band plays was found in the Library of Congress. Members have also turned up two songs written specifically for their progenitors, “Sumpter Light Guard March” and “Americus Quick Step.” Band parts were not found, but arrangements were made from original piano scores.

“This was called the singingest war,” Curtis said. “The bands were extremely important, as a motivational force when marching, when the troops just wanted to hear pretty songs in camp like ‘Home Sweet Home’ and to get them into formation when they fought.

“So many songs were written about and during the war, everything from ‘Amazing Grace’ to ‘Goober Peas,’ and they really strike home. They capture the feeling of war and sadness. Many carried on into World War I and World War II.” During the Civil War, instruments such as the E-flat and B-flat cornets, alto, tenor and baritone horns, B-flat and E-flat basses (basically tubas), were redesigned to point backward over the players’ shoulders so that troops marching behind could hear more clearly. The instruments existed in both forms: over-the-shoulder, also known as backfire, and bell front.

“We use bell front so the people (we’re facing) can hear,” said Curtis, who plays E-flat cornet. “We have a couple of over-the-shoulder instruments, but they are not our best instruments. We play one over-the-shoulder tenor horn to show what it looked like.”

One scene in the show points up the fact that only six members of the 4th Georgia band--which at its height numbered 18--survived the war.

“The musicians were not on the front line fighting,” Curtis explained. “When they weren’t playing, they would become stretcher bearers, and it’s possible they were hurt picking up soldiers. Some were lost to disease. One had his hand amputated.

“We know about the particular guys who got killed, and in the course of the show, you come to associate with the characters. To see those people walk off the stage (representing the deaths of those characters) is pretty powerful.”

The show also has its lighter side, notably a camp-side scene where activities included a new pastime.

“Baseball originated during the Civil War,” Curtis said. “The soldiers speculate on how important it might become to our society. ‘They’ll build arenas,’ and so on. But they finally decide, ‘Nah, not possible.’ They also talk about camp food, salt pork and goober peas--what we call peanuts.”

Other bands split up or lost too many musicians to continue. The Americus Brass Band was captured at Sailor’s Creek, Va., and was marched by Union soldiers to Appomattox just days before Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender there to Union Army Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, ending the war.

The handful of musicians who returned to Americus after the war re-formed and continued to play, but Curtis said he doesn’t know what happened to the group after that.

Or does he?

“On Oct. 1, we’re going to perform in Americus, Ga., for the first time ever,” he said. “But it feels like kind of a homecoming--like we’re coming back 135 years later to play.”

* The Americus Brass Band presents “Honor and Glory: Civil War Memories” Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. $8-$10 (advance) and $11-$13 (at the door). Phone (714) 432-5880.