A drummer's calls.

 

    Two drummers of the mid to late 17th Century.

(courtesy British Museum)

I have been translating Gaya's Art of War from 1677 and in the course of checking details and facts I managed to gather some information on French drummer's calls, which I thought might be of interest. It is by no means a definitive list, I would be interested if anyone knows of others for France or, indeed, those of other nations.

The principal calls were:

“La diane” – “reveille” – beaten at dawn to wake the men.
“Aux champs” – “to arms” – ordered the men to dress and gather their equipment and was usually the first order of the day, sometimes known as “le première”, “the first”.
"L’assemblée” – “the assembly” – called the men together to an allotted place in order to form up.
“Le dernier” – “all present” – beaten when all the men had arrived to form up.
“La garde” – “the guard” – was the call to guard duty.
“La retraite” – “the retreat” – was to close up the town gates and stand down the guard or to cease fire and rally on the flag.
"L’ordre” – “the order” – confirmed an action.
"La générale” – “the general” – was a general alarm call for a large force.
“La marche” – “the march” – directed the men to form up ready to march off.
“La charge” or “la guerre” – “the charge” or “the war” – to prepare to fire.

In addition, there were:

"La prière” – “the prayer” – called the men to religious service.

"Le ban” – “the fanfare” – for issuing official, municipal or royal decrees.

"La chamade” – “the parley” – used when a fortress or defended position sought to halt the fighting and seek terms of surrender, to which the opposition would beat “La réponse aux chamades” – “the response to the parley”.

“La fricassee” – “the fricassee”, which was a rapid beating of the drum to signal the raising or lowering of the flag, or to advance in battle or retire.

"Appeller” – “to call” – to summon soldiers for a parade before a passing senior officer. 

There were also particular national marches – English, French, Swiss, for example – which were beaten for identification purposes on the battlefield or on the march. The French, for example, sounded “La caisse” – “the drum”, when there were French troops in garrison in a fortress.