Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Militia Drum and Strap
ca. 1812
Maker not marked
USA
a: leather, brass, paint, linen; b: cotton, leather
overall: 16 x 16 3/4 in.
Gift of W. D. Barbour
86.44a-b

a. Snare drum with brass tack decoration; painted compass rose around breather hole; initials "APR" (Abel Roscoe) scratched in side. b. Canvas strap with green stripes and leather tab.

Over generations, this drum symbolized one family’s patriotism. Its first owner, Stephen Roscoe, cherished it “as a relict of the war of 1812, in which he as a drummer carried it.” He gave it to his son Abel, who served as an Ohio regiment’s drum major during the Civil War. Years later, a relative remembered the drum well. “… In my Younger Days … [I] saw both your Grandfather and your Uncle play it on 4th of July Occasions….”