Eighth Regiment Band
The Eighth Regiment Band of the Georgia Volunteer Infantry formed in 1986 in Rome, Ga., when the conductor of Rome Symphony Orchestra asked brass
percussion players to stay after a practice and work on Civil War era music.
John Carruth, who was conducting the orchestra at that time, said they
gathered up the necessary instruments for playing music from the Civil War era, including grabbing an E-flat tuba that was
being used as a planter, and were able to play the music.
Eight Regiment now uses all original instruments.
The 14-member band performs music from both sides of the conflict in replica
blue and gray uniforms, with appropriate dialogue and action. The band's
engagements in movies also has required a third uniform. They performed as a
town band by dressing in black 19th-century civilian outfits. They wore these
outfits for the filming of "The Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All."
Some upcoming engagements include being selected to perform at the memorial
interment of the Confederate submarine Hunley. "It was the first submarine
to successfully sink a warship," Carruth notes.
The agenda also includes playing for the 100th anniversary of the opening of
Kennesaw National Military Park. They will be one of bands at the National Civil
War Band festival in Campbellsville at the end of July. Over the past year, the
group played for three openings of museums.
"We don't play much anymore for Civil War re-enactments. Our work has
become much broader than that," Carruth says of the band that formed in the
heyday of Civil War re-enactments.