The Lewis and Clark Fife and Drum Corps was formed in 1992 as part of an effort by the community of St. Charles, Missouri, to honor Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark…and the Corps of Discovery…who spent five days in St. Charles in May 1804 making final preparations for their expedition across the Louisiana Territory.

For the past 500 years, fifers and drummers played an important role as the communications system of the Army.  Commanders used fifes and drums to relay orders to their troops scattered over the battlefields, with special cadences signaling everything from advance to retreat.  The piercing fife signals and thundering drumbeats could be heard above even the musketry and cannon fire.

The music of the fifes and drums became part of foot- soldiers’ everyday lives, waking them up in the morning, putting them to bed at night, and keeping them in some semblance of order as they marched in between.  Fifers and drummers also provided entertainment for the troops.
Fifing and drumming reached a height during the American Revolutionary War, was carried on through the War of 1812, and into the Civil War.  It was during the Civil War that fifing and drumming was replaced, first by bugles and cavalry units, then later by the telegraph.

Much like fifers and drummers for the past five centuries, The Lewis and Clark Fife and Drum Corps is comprised of young people between the ages of 10 and 18.  Their uniforms are patterned after those worn by U.S. Army 1st Infantry field musicians of 1804-1810: coats of red wool trimmed in blue; round hats adorned with black bear fur, white deer tails (which replaced the earlier feather plumes that were increasingly difficult to find on the frontier), and a black leather cockade with an eagle badge.  The flag bearers are dressed identical to the musicians, but with opposite colors – blue coats with red facings – since they were part of the infantry line units.  They carry the 15-star “Star Spangled Banner”, our nation’s flag from 1795-1818.