Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, May 1921 · page 37 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #20 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains patriotic propaganda text rather than a cartoon. Published during or shortly after World War I (references to 1917 and Germany suggest WWI era), it uses the drum as a metaphor for American military patriotism. The text invokes historical American conflicts—the Revolutionary War ('76), War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War ("Rebellion"), Spanish-American War, and WWI—to frame drumming as synonymous with righteous warfare. It explicitly calls for a "drum-head court martial" against Germany, using military terminology to advocate harsh punishment. The passage opens with a romantic anecdote about Napoleon's drummer boy freezing in the Alps, lending tragic nobility to military sacrifice. The final rallying cry celebrates "Uncle Sam, the drum-major" leading humanity toward "freedom." For modern readers: this represents jingoistic wartime messaging conflating percussion instruments with patriotic duty and military aggression, exemplifying how WWI propaganda weaponized nationalism and historical narratives.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 35 Then the little drummer boy lay on the snow bank to die with the snow for his shroud and the falling night for his pall. For years the veterans of the Italian campaign hushed their voices at the campfire, as they told the story of Napoleon's drummer-boy, whose slender body lay frozen beside his drum in the silent solitudes of the snowy Alps. In patriotic art we have the spirit of '76. Germany has used the drum as a favorite means to raise recruits—we have done it against her, and by God's grace will give her a drum-head court martial before long, though the world is waiting for the time Tenny-son speaks of, "When the war-drum throbs no longer." The drum is the heart-beat of a liberty-loving humanity. The Fourth of July drum recalls the spirit of 1917, when Uncle Sam started to make the world habitable and we prayed that the American eagle might beat out the brains of Germany's two-headed vulture; recalls the spirit of the Spanish War to give Cuba and the Philippines human rights; recalls the War of the Rebellion for the union of all creeds, colors and conditions; recalls the war of Mexico for a square deal for Americans; recalls the war of 1812 for free commerce of our ships upon the high seas; recalls the war of 1776 for liberty by the noble colonists. I believe in the drum. Can you beat it? Hurrah for Uncle Sam, the drum-major of the world in the march for freedom of body, mind and soul, always and everywhere!