A full-height side drum measuring about 16 ½ inches in diameter and standing about 13 ¼ inches tall, bearing a label inside, visible through the vent hole, reading, “MASSACHUSETTS / DRUM MANUFACTORY / JOHN C. HAYNES & CO. / 33 Court Street. Boston, / WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEALERS IN / SHEET MUSIC, / Musical instruments & musical merchandise / of every description / Attention paid to repairing Musical Instruments.” Bazelon, Directory Vol. 2, mentions this specific label as Civil War and places Haynes at this address as early as August 1861 on the basis of a newspaper advertisement offering, “full sets of instruments for brass or regimental bands supplied and warranted at very low prices. Drums and fifes of the best make at wholesale and retail.”

The drum is painted dark blue full round, with an eagle in flight, heading to the viewer’s left, grasping a buff and yellow colored fluttering ribbon emblazoned “E PLURIBUS UNUM” in blue. Beneath the eagle is the shield of the United States with red and white stripes and white stars in the upper blue band. The end of a cannon barrel pokes out and downward from the rear of the shield and the whole design is circled by thirty-two gold painted five-pointed stars, interrupted by the upper wing tips of the eagle, who thus appears about to fly out from the circle of stars with the flowing ribbon in its beak. The condition of the paint is very good, with just minor scattered scratches and scruffs to the blue and few small areas of paint loss. The painted design is even stronger in condition than the background. The eagle is rendered in browns, grays, and black with the white of its eye showing and highlighted with red. The shield and ribbon are bright.

The drum seam is secured with a single line of small drum tacks. The rims, about 1 3/8 inches tall, are a warm brown with orange tones and in very good condition. The rims are drilled for drum rope, but the rope is mounted with period pewter rim hooks (which also show up in wartime photos.) The rope itself is a modern replacement (likely the 1960s collector standby: clothesline.) The tighteners, however, appear original and are of the upside-down, lobed-V configuration. A couple are missing the lobes, the rest preserve them, showing notched edges, a white metal roundel at center, and impressed floral designs on either lobe. Both heads are present on their flesh hoops, have some age, and look good, though likely replacements (as is most often the case.) A snare is present on the bottom. The bottom head has a tear, but seems stable and is certainly not visible when displayed.

This is a very nice eagle drum in very good condition, by a known maker, that displays impressively.  [sr]

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