CUSTOMS (File #2) Contents American Military Weddings.................p.2 Military Balls and Dancing.................p.4 Hail and Farewell..........................p.6 ....p.7 See also: customs, customs.3, -.4, -.5 USAMHI Customs-Social RefBranch dv 1983 NOTE: AMERICAN MILITARY WEDDINGS Despite a reputation for prescribing in detail the "correct" way to do things, the U.S. Army does not appear to have a general regulation or manual on weddings. However, there may be instructions for chaplains conducting marriage ceremonies. See the following unofficial guides to military weddings, which describe customs and "proper" procedures: Shea, Nancy. The Army Wife. NY: Harper, 1941. pp. 44-68. U766S5. Wier, Ester. Army Social Customs. Harrisburg, PA: Mil Ser Pub, 1958. pp. 39-41. U766W47. On naval wedding customs, see the lengthy chapter in Service Etiquette, 2d ed, by Brooks J. Harrad, et al (Annapolis, MD.: US Naval Inst, 1963; U766M2), pp. 366-396. Additional info on customs associated with military weddings appears in these following non-official guidebooks: Boatner, Mark M., III. Military Customs and Traditions. NY: McKay, 1956. pp. 160-161. RefColl. Moss, James A. Officers' Manual. 2d & 9th eds. Menasha, WS: Banta, 1907 & 1943. pp. 240-241 & pp. 88-89, respectively. U133M92. _________. Noncommissioned Officers' Manual. Menasha, WS: Banta, 1916. pp. 382-383. U123M91. _________. Origin and Significance of Military Customs. Menasha, WS: Banta, 1917. pp. 7-9. U766M6. The Officers' Guide. 1st & 39th eds. Wash, DC and Harrisburg, PA: National Service Pub and Stackpole Books, 1930 & 1977. pp. 125 & 75, respectively. U133A603. American Military Weddings p.2 Concise reports of three weddings were found in randomly searched issues of the Army and Navy Journal, Vol XIX, namely: 24 Sep 1881, p. 163; 26 Nov 1881, p. 358; and 25 Feb 1882, page 659. See also: - Marriages - Women-Army Wives USAMHI Customs-Social RefBranch dv 1983 NOTE: THE MILITARY BALL AND DANCING Experts believe modern social dancing derives from prehistoric rituals. This means that the primitive fertility dance--the form of which is left to the imagination--somehow evolved into folk dancing and then into elegant and graceful of courtly dancing. Further evolution transformed the high pageantry of the court dance into the more democratic ballroom affairs of today.1 The military profession, of course, shared in the overall cultural evolution of dance forms and added its own variant, the military ball. It fulfilled some of the profession's ceremonial and social needs. One professional soldier even made a dance perform military service, so to speak. The Duke of Wellington on the eve of Waterloo deliberately attended a midnight ball in order to calm the local population. Moreover, when notified that Napoleon had begun to march against him, the Duke issued preliminary battle orders on the spot, then continued with the ball.2 If there is a lesson here, it may be that a ballroom can serve as a command post. For American military balls and dances, may well look back to George Washington, whose diaries record a lifetime of attendance at balls.3 Even with the Continental Army in winter quarters at Morristown (1779-1780) and suffering record cold--worse than at Valley Forge--Washington and his officers organized a dancing society. Those Morristown balls must have been popular, because one hapless lieutenant of the 4th Maryland Regiment came before a court martial that cold winter charged with several offenses, including that he had claimed to be ill but had gone to the ball,"...remaining one night and the best part of two days from his regiment..."4 The service academies have long held formal and informal dances.5 The Marine Corps has for many years made its annual birthday celebration and ball a social highlight.6 Even at the isolated frontier outposts of the Indian-fighting Army, dances played a central part of garrison life.7 One dance custom noted at those frontier garrisons was the colonel's lady opening the ball by dancing with the senior non- commissioned officer, whose wife in turn danced with the colonel himself.8 Another old Army custom, origin unknown, was the New Year's Eve Ball, when the bugler sounded tatoo at ten minutes before midnight and then at midnight the orchestra welcomed the new year by playing reveille.9 Many military balls now end with a customary rendition of the National Anthem.10 The Military Ball and Dancing p.2 Of interest may be the toast often proposed by President George Washington to the Philadelphia Dancing Assembly, 1790-1797: May the members thereof and the Fair who honor it with their presence long continue in the enjoyment of an amusement so innocent and agreeable."11 NOTES 1. See articles on dance in Encylopedia Americana and Encyclopaedia Britannica (RefColl). 2. Arthur Bryant, The Great Duke (London: Collins, 1971), pp. 409- 410 (DA68.12W4B96). 3. The Diaries of George Washington, ed by John C. Fitzpatrick, 4 vols (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1925), E312.8. 4. The Writings of George Washington, Vol 18 (Wash, DC: GPO, 1937), pp. 261-262 (E312.7) 5. U.S. Naval Institute, Service Etiquette, 2d ed (Annapolis: Institute, 1963), Chap 3 (U766U5). 6. Robert D. Heinl, The Marine Officer's Guide, 4th ed (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1977), pp. 636 & 677-679 (VE153T5). 7. Oliver Knight, Frontier Army (Norman, OK: Univ of OK Press, 1978), pp. 132-137 (F593K56). 8. Ibid. 9. James A. Moss, Origin and Significance of Military Customs (Menasha), WS: Banta, 1917), p. 7 (U766M6). 10. Heinl, see above. 11. The Writings of George Washington, Vol 35, p. 397. See also: - Army & Navy Journal, social columns, Per. USAMHI Customs - Social RefBranch dv 1981 NOTE: HAIL & FAREWELL A search in pertinent sources here disclosed little information on this particular custom. Published guides for Army officers and wives fail to mention it, including the prolific writings of James A. Moss, who described and prescribed Army customs from 1906 until about World War II. Interestingly, the first edition of The Officers' Guide (Wash, DC: Natl Serv Pub, 1930; U133A603), p. 121, notes that "a reception, despedida, or other suitable regimental function . . . will be given in honor of the officer leaving. If practical, one of the regimental social functions may be used for this purpose." "Despedida" is the Spanish word for farewell. Unfortunately, the Guide notes no similar regimental function for the arrival of a new officer (see pp. 119-120). Hail-and-farewell functions appear to be something less than formal Army custom and more of an informal social practice. In the U.S. Navy, a hail-and-farewell tradition seems more formalized. Leland P. Lovette's Naval Customs: Tradition and Usage (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Inst, 1934; RefColl), p. 108, mentions as custom the formal dinner given by the ship's officers whenever their new captain arrives. The second edition of Service Etiquette (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute, 1963; U766U5), p. 328, allows such dinners for new and old captains to be held either separately or as a "combined 'Hail and Farewell' party." Incidentally, the Home Book of Quotations, 8th ed (NY: Dodd, Mead, 1956; RefColl), p. 165, attributes the following line to the Odes of Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca 84-ca 54 BC): In perpetuum, frater, ave atique vale. (For ever, brother, hail and farewell.)