The bugle call of Taps originated during the American Civil War (1861-65) and was written as a replacement signal for Lights Out. It was used unofficially at funerals from 1864 to 1891 when it was incorporated into military funeral honors.  

Taps is a part of every military funeral in the United States. It is a ceremony that includes the folding and presentation of the American flag to the next of kin, along with the sounding of Taps. By law, military funeral honors are given to every honorably discharged veteran. As stipulated by law, an honor guard detail for the burial of an eligible veteran must consist of no fewer than two members of the Armed Forces.

Long-standing military customs and the wishes of the next of kin form the foundation of these ceremonies. Consequently, the military departments and funeral homes play important roles in performing last rites. Collectively, these agencies conduct various types of funerals, ranging from modest to elaborate. This gradation allows the State and Nation to appropriately recognize the wishes of the next of kin and the rank and status held by a veteran at the time of their passing.

When a president dies, the military accords them the highest military honors that can be bestowed. Among these honors are Ruffles and Flourishes, Hail to the Chief, a 21-gun salute, a joint service casket team, personal colors, and a military escort led by the commanding general of the Military District of Columbia. A State Funeral is the most elaborate of military honors and can take place over a period of three to four days. At the conclusion, the most basic aspect of military honors—an escort of honor—comes to attention and presents arms. Next, a firing party fires three rifle volleys. After the briefest of moments, a bugler sounds the 24 notes of Taps. The flag, held by members of the military honor guard, is then folded into a triangle reminiscent of the cocked hat from the American Revolution. This expression of the nation’s gratitude is then presented to the next of kin on behalf of the president and a grateful nation. 

Taps has been part of the final military honors accorded to the president since the Civil War. However, military honors have not been included in all presidential funerals since Lincoln.

Research of Presidential funerals has shown that full military honors, including Taps, started with the burial of Ulysses S. Grant in 1885. However, not all presidents were buried with military honors or in public view. Some were private affairs that followed elaborate funeral church services.

The Presidents are listed in order of death, not by term in office. The date listed is the date of burial along with the place of burial. That’s when final honors would have been performed

–Abraham Lincoln-May 4, 1865 Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois
There is no evidence that Taps was sounded for Lincoln.

–James Buchanan-June 4, 1868  Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
No Taps according to contemporary sources.

–Franklin Pierce-October 11, 1869 Old North Cemetery, Concord, New Hampshire
No Taps according to contemporary sources.

–Millard Fillmore-March 12, 1874 Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York
Military escort to the cemetery. Co D Buffalo City Guards National Guard and 1st US Infantry as honor guards. No Taps according to contemporary sources.

–Andrew Johnson-August 3, 1875 Andrew Johnson National Cemetery, Greeneville, Tennessee.
Interment included Masonic rites. No Taps according to contemporary sources.

–James Garfield-September 26, 1881 Lakeview Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio (The Boscobel Dial September 30, 1881) The Forest City Guard escorted the casket to the cemetery, and the US Marine Band provided music. Nearer My God To Thee was played. No Taps according to contemporary sources

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–Ulysses S Grant-August 8, 1885 Grant’s Tomb, New York, New York
Large military involvement. Trumpeter Krouse Battery H of the 5th US Artillery sounded Taps. (newspaper articles)

–Chester Arthur-November 22, 1886 Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York
No Taps according to contemporary sources.

–Benjamin Harrison-March 17, 1901 Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana
No Taps according to contemporary sources. The newspaper article mentions the Knightstown Band playing Taps Sacred March  by Charles Lloyd Barnhouse

–William McKinley-September 19, 1901 McKinley National Memorial, Canton, Ohio
From Newspapers: 8 Buglers from the Canton Band, Canton, Ohio sounded Taps simultaneously. According to the book “Life of William McKinley”, Taps was sounded by eight silver bugles. “The last notes were held until the breath of the wind seemed to rob them of life” [Life of William McKinley our Martyred President Edited by Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows, LL.D. Published by Regan Printing House Chicago IL 1901 p43]

–Grover Cleveland-June 26, 1908 Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, New Jersey
No military honors according to contemporary sources/ At the request of Mrs. Cleveland, no military participation in the funeral.

–Theodore Roosevelt-January 8, 1919 Young’s Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York
No Taps or Military Honors at graveside.

–Warren Harding-August 12, 1923 Marion Cemetery, Marion, Ohio
No military honors at graveside-No Taps according to Newspaper accounts. Taps was sounded on the east steps of the US Capitol on August 10, 1923 by Sergeant Bugler Henry Loveless and others sounded the call throughout the District of Columbia.

–Woodrow Wilson-February 8, 1924, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.
Sgt. Frank Witchey. 3rd US Cavalry sounded Taps. (Witchey also sounded Taps for the WWI Unknown interment at Arlington in 1921)

–William Howard Taft-March 11, 1930 Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
Sgt. Frank Witchey. 3rd US Cavalry sounded Taps. (Witchey also sounded Taps for the WWI Unknown interment at Arlington, Woodrow Wilson, General Miles and William Jennings Bryan)

–Calvin Coolidge– January 7, 1933 Notch Cemetery, Plymouth Notch, Vermont
No military honors on record at the interment in January 1933. According to “Who Killed Warren G. Harding?” By Timothy Wright, there was an Army Bugler at the Coolidge funeral.

–Franklin Roosevelt– April 15, 1945 Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site Hyde Park, New York.
Master Sergeant Newell Fischer, United States Military Academy Band sounded Taps.
(No photo available)

–John F. Kennedy– November 25, 1963 Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
Specialist 6 Keith Clark, The US Army Band “Pershing’s Own” sounded Taps.

–Herbert Hoover-October 25, 1964 Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum West Branch, Iowa
Sergeant First Class Ronald E. Schaller, 5th US Army Band sounded Taps. (Schaller was from Quincy, IL) Newspaper accounts

–Dwight Eisenhower-April 2, 1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene, Kansas
Sergeant (Specialist 7) Major Patrick Mastroleo, The US Army Band (Pershing’s Own) sounded Taps.(Mastroleo also sounded Taps for the Vietnam Unknown interment at Arlington in 1984)

–Harry Truman-December 28, 1972 Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri
Sergeant Major Patrick Mastroleo, The US Army Band “Pershing’s Own” sounded Taps.

–Lyndon Johnson-January 25, 1973 Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Johnson City, Texas
Sergeant Major Patrick Mastroleo The US Army Band “Pershing’s Own”

–Richard Nixon-April 27, 1994 Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California
Musician 1st Class Paul Johnson The US Navy Band sounded Taps.

–Ronald Reagan-June 11, 2004 Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
Sergeant Major Woodrow English, The US Army Band “Pershing’s Own” sounded Taps.

–Gerald Ford-January 3, 2007 Gerald R. Ford Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Musician 1st Class Gunnar Bruning, The US Navy Band sounded Taps.

–George H. W. Bush-December 6, 2018 George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.
Musician 1st Class John L. J. Armstrong The US Navy Band sounded Taps.

–James Earl Carter-January 9, 2025 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter House, Plains Georgia
Musician 1st Class Ethan Bartley The US Navy Band sounded Taps.

Musician 1st Class Ethan Bartley joins a list of distinguished buglers who played at a presidential funeral.

Musician 1st Class Ethan Bartley, from Kansas City, Missouri, joined the Navy Band in 2018. He earned a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance from the University of Kansas in 2014, and a Master of Music in trumpet performance from Indiana University in 2016.

His primary teachers include Steve Leisring and John Rommel.

Prior to joining the Navy Band, Bartley was a freelance musician in the Indianapolis area, as well as principal trumpet of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, and second trumpet in the Columbus (Indiana) Symphony Orchestra and Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Richmond (Indiana) Symphony, Eutiner Festspiele Orchester in Eutin, Germany, the New World Symphony and the Kansas City Symphony. Bartley was also a soloist and section leader with the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps for four summers.

He has attended the Hot Springs Summer Music Festival and the Menlo Summer Brass Institute in San Francisco, where his teachers included Scott Moore and David Bilger. In addition to performing, Bartley has maintained a private trumpet studio and has worked as a clinician and technician with high school bands in Kansas and Indiana.

Bartley also sounds Taps as one of the regular buglers at The National WWI Memorial Washington DC

Outside of music he spends his time playing and watching sports, cooking, spending time with friends and family and taking his dog on walks.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This was the funeral for Calvin Coolidge’s son.
Frank Witchey Sounded Taps

Article about Keith Clark, Bugler for Kennedy’s Funeral
More information on the funeral for John F. Kennedy can be found at
https://www.tapsbugler.com/a-bugle-call-remembered/

Article about Ronald Schaller Bugler for Herbert Hoover, 1964

Memories of the Nixon Funeral US Navy Bugler Paul Johnson 1994

There are two isolated moments that fall into the “once in a lifetime” experiences for me. One was playing taps at the funeral service for former President Richard Nixon in Yorba Linda, Calif. The Sea Chanters chorus also performed at the service. We were flown out a couple days before the service and housed at El Toro Marine Air Base, where we were treated to almost round-the-clock jet noise as the pilots conducted what must have been training runs for takeoff and landing. On the day of the ceremony, I needed an early start to board a 4:30 bus to the briefing with the ceremonial coordinators. By 7:00, I was on my way to a local school gymnasium, our holding area for the morning. At midday, we moved again, this time to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, where we waited in the basement until the start of the ceremony.

My part in the ceremony, along with the firing party from the Navy Ceremonial Guard, was in the Rose Garden for the final honors. The religious service and eulogies took place on the other side of a ridge, hidden from our view, but I could hear the voices of the Reverend Billy Graham, Nixon’s Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Senator Bob Dole, California Governor Pete Wilson, and President Clinton. When the service was over, the body bearers carried the casket over the ridge and into the Rose Garden, followed by President Clinton and former Presidents George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford. It was difficult to quiet the tendency to think about what a disaster it would be to suffer a cracked note with such a distinguished audience, but I kept reminding myself to just do the same thing I did for every veteran’s ceremony I had performed in Washington since joining the Navy Band four years earlier. No one was less worthy of my absolute best effort, and if that was good enough before, then it would be sufficient on that day too.

As buglers we know that much work is done in preparation before we even arrive at the cemetery. For a military musician it means getting the instrument nice and shiny making sure the gloves and shoes are clean and making sure the uniform surpasses the standard. “For preparation I tried to do everything as normally as possible. I just practiced as I always do.”

When the moment came for the rendering of honors, the firing party came smartly to attention and fired their three volleys with exact precision, and I brought my trumpet to my lips and started the first note of Taps. I remember being startled when I heard a delayed echo of my sound coming from the loudspeakers on the other side of the estate. It was rather loud coming from the speakers, and pretty distracting, and I remember actually closing my eyes in order to maintain my focus on what I was doing and not react to the echo of myself. Because of its long tradition and the association with honoring the sacrifices of our veterans, the 24 notes of Taps are profoundly moving for most Americans. My mission was simply to be the messenger, to intone the melody without any overstated personal expression, and let the quiet simplicity of it ring in the hearts of those who were grieving their president. Sixty seconds later, I brought my horn down, saluted my former president, and stood at attention while the body bearers folded the flag. Once the flag was presented to Mrs. Nixon, I did an about-face and departed the site.

A talk with MU1 John Armstrong, the Navy Bugler chosen to sound Taps at the interment ceremonies for President George Herbert Walker Bush. 2018

We had a chance to talk with MU1 John Armstrong informally about his experiences with the funeral for the late president. Shortly after the notification of the death of the former president MU1 Armstrong began to prepare. He has been a member of The United States Navy Band in Washington DC since 2012 and has participated in many ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.

“It is always the highest honor to sound Taps for our veterans. I am grateful and proud to have had the opportunity to sound the call in salute of Mr. Bush and his profound services to our great nation. It was a uniquely moving experience to stand by the graveside and witness the flyover, hear the Anthem performed by the Air Force Band of the West, the 21 gun salutes, and Eternal Father sung by the Army Chorus.”

And the military in it’s usual “hurry up and wait” made sure the bugler, Navy firing party and Army Chorus was in place in plenty of time to rehearse the sequence and work out any logistical issues.

MU1 Armstrong relayed, “Everything was done to the highest standard, and all the musicians performed beautifully. The Air Force band made me proud and the Army Chorus put a lump in my throat. It was a humbling experience to be a part of that.”

At the conclusion of the interment ceremony, the traditional military funeral rites are performed. After the third volley, and the command of “Present Arms”, comes the moment when everything stops and the bugler has the spotlight for 60 seconds as Taps is sounded. Many things go through one’s mind. All buglers I’ve talked with approach the sounding of Taps in different ways. Some are nervous, (this is not a job for the faint of heart), some think of prayers or bible verses, some think of the veterans they are sounding the honor for. Many focus in on the mission at hand. “My thoughts were focused on the music. Mostly the tempo and pacing/vibrato but also articulation, tone, pitch, etc. That doesn’t leave a lot of brain power for outside thoughts (at least for me). Haha.”