The Minnis Brothers

Famous Ann Arbor Musicians of War Times

The Fife and Drum Corp

Whose Music Led the Troops Into Battle and Stirred Patriotic Feelings After Was Had Closed

The Detroit Times contained the following article on the Minnis brothers, so well known in Ann Arbor where they lived so many years:

Tall, soldierly and erect, in his modest little shoe shop on north Woodward avenue, sits day after day a quiet man to whom the republic owes more than it is ever likely to pay. "C. Minnis," says the little sign in front of the shop, and to the glance of the average passerby there is no hint of the story of patriotism and red-dashed romance behind the name. But occasionally there comes a pedestrian of mature years to whom the name upon the modest sign brings a reminiscent thought, and as he involuntarily turns to look through the glass at the cobbler bending over his bench inside the shop, his mind harks back to the days that tried men's souls in the early 60's.

For there was a time in the easy recollection of the elder Times reader when the name of Minnis was familiar to many ears in Michigan. Those were stirring days, too, when the clash of steel and the discordant cries of war rang harsh and strident above the songs of nature and of nature's peace. Fort Sumter had been fired upon, and all over the country the hurry and excitement of the coming conflict were in evidence. Public meetings were being held in the towns and cities, and young men were laying aside the implements of peace to respond to the call of the president. The sound of fife and drum awakened the spark of patriotism in every heart, and crystalized the surging feelings into radical action.

Those were the days when the Minnis Bros.' fife and drum corps was one of the weapons of patriotic fervor in this state. Organized in the early days of the excitement the four young men, Jerry, Frank, Charles and Homer Minnis, gave their time and their tireless efforts to the work of recruiting Michigan's share of the army for which Lincoln had asked. In Detroit, Jackson, Battle Creek, Marshall and wherever the war spirit was breaking forth the quartet played the airs of the march and fired the hearts of the young men. Nobody can estimate with any degree of exactness the number of men whom these four brought to the union army. Doubtless the total would reach very near a thousand.

The greater portion were brought to Detroit and here assigned to the various companies and regiments then being organized and sent to the front. All through the year 1861 the fifes and drums of the young brothers played their excellent parts in this work.

Then there came the days when the brothers longed for more active participation in their country's life struggle. To them it seemed no longer the better part to spur the hesitating spirit at home. They felt that they were needed at the front. So in 1862 it was decided that they should enlist and take their stirring music to the field. The Twentieth Michigan regiment was being organized, and upon its rolls the brothers wrote their names. With it they served through the darker days that met them, and in many a faltering moment the veterans of that command say that the music of the Minnis boys revived the spirit of hope and courage along the blue and gaping ranks. All through the long struggle until the peace of Appomattox signed the welcome end, they fought and played and fought again.

The eyes of soldierly old Charles Minnis glisten and sparkle again today as he talks of the experiences of the old times, and he speaks admiringly of his old commander, Capt. Grant, of Company D, 20th Michigan regiment, who is at present a justice of the supreme court.

Eighteen years ago Homer Minnis died, but the three other brothers are alive today, and no more popular visitors than they are found at the campments of the Grand Army in Michigan.

"Miss an encampment!" exclaims the old man. "Not while I have strength enough to get back in line with the boys. They wouldn't like it any better than we would if we failed to show up at one of the reunions, I guess. And they always make us play the old tunes over and over for old times' sake."

And the gray-moustached veteran straightens up with a dash of the old soldierly pride that speaks volumes to the sympathetic listener.

One of the treasures he keeps before him is a picture of the three remaining brothers as they stood side by side at a G. A. R. reunion a year or two ago. In the place of the fourth brother, Homer, stands Gen. Stone, former auditor general of Michigan, with his drum hung from his belt. And it doesn't take a great stretch of the sympathetic imagination to see in place of the grizzled veterans the fresh and hopeful faces of the youths who drummed and played for Uncle Sam almost half a century ago.