Yankee Rebels through the years
1946: The Hamilton American Legion Post No. 20 Senior Drum and Bugle Corps is formed and begins competing with other drum and bugle corps from up and down the East Coast on the Interstate Circuit of the American Legion.
Many of the Hamilton Post No. 20 Senior Drum and Bugle Corps’ members are former servicemen recently returned from World War II. Quite a few of these men had previously belonged to the Hamilton Squadron Junior Corps, a youth drum and bugle corps originally founded in the 1930s.
1949: The Hamilton Corps takes the name Yankee Rebels and begins flying the Confederate flag along with the stars and stripes of the United States in competitions. The name Yankee Rebels honors the Civil War forefathers of corps members, some of whom served in the Union Army during the Civil War and some of whom fought for the Confederacy.
1969: Under the direction of Truman Crawford, a former member of both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, the Yankee Rebels win the first of three consecutive national championships. They take their first title in 1969 before a crowd of nearly 30,000 at the American Legion National, held at Grant Field, Atlanta, Ga.
1977: Faced with declining membership and retiring leaders and directors and inability to field a competitive corps, the Yankee Rebels disband.
1988: Many former members of the Yankee Rebels Senior Corps reunite to form the Yankee Rebels Alumni Corps. With an average age of about 50 and quite a few members in their seventies, the new Alumni Corps does not compete on the American Legion circuit. The alumni corps does not compete, but members practice twice a month and perform in parades, festivals and concerts in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and elsewhere.
- Bob Allen
Link: Yankee Rebels
