Recently I attended the funeral for my maternal grandfather. Due to his service in the military shortly after World War II he was cremated and interned at a military cemetary in Ohio. At the ceremony a regiment from the local V.F.W. was there to fire a 21-gun salute in 3 volleys of 7 rifles, followed by the playing of Taps. On the flight home I started to wonder about the symbolism behind the 21-gun salute and the playing of taps and how it all got started. In researching this on the internet it seems like no one else knows either. Both the gun salute and the playing of Taps seem to have many origins associated with them.

Taps seems to have originated as a derivation of a french song and was played prior to the final bugle call at military installations basically to signify “last call” for alcohol. I found at least 3 different stories as to the origins of the playing of Taps at a military funeral but all seem to occur around the time of the civil war. Army regulations by around 1891 required the playing of Taps at all military funeral ceremonies. Today, Taps is played at military funerals and to signify the “lights out” command at the end of the day. The words to the song are:

Day is done, gone the sun,
from the lake, from the hill,
from the sky.
All is well. Safely rest,
God is nigh.
Thanks and praise, for our days,
neath the sun, neath the stars,
neath the sky. As we go this we know.
God is nigh.

The origin of the gun salute is even more confusing. Back in the days when ships still had cannons, gun salutes were seen as a symbol of great honor. By firing all of its guns, a ship or port was essentially left defenseless due to the long reload time of the cannon. Firing the gun salutes in 3 rounds is said to date back to a time when armies would stop fighting to clear casualties from the battleground and then fire 3 volleys to signal to both armies to resume fighting. Many countries used the gun salute to honor heads of state and each country used a different number of guns. In 1875 the united states adopted the use of 21 guns, which was also used by other countries at the time. I found several different explanations of why the number 21 was chosen including one explanation that said that no one actually knows the real reason.

I still don’t feel like I know what the symbolism behind these things are. If anyone does know the actual reason and has references to back up the explanation, I would love to know about it.