text: what year(s) were the most common bugle calls written? i do civil war reenacting and want to play the correct bugle calls. in the late part of the 18th century and early part of the 19th century attempts were made to make both the trumpet and bugle into chromatic instruments.  one such attempt was the slide trumpet.  some historians attribute the invention to england.  a french version appears around 1840.  a description of the instrument follows:  "it was basically the natural trumpet of its period except that the bend joining the middle pipe and the bellpipe was made in the form of a u-slide which could be pushed out towards the player by means of a rod with a touch-piece lying under the second and third fingers of the right hand and automatically closed again by a spring." another early attempt was the keyed trumpet and keyed bugle. the keyed trumpet is about 40 centimeters long and is held in a horizontal plane. the best way to think of these instruments is as almost a hybrid of a saxophone and a natural trumpet.  there are a number of keys (between five and nine) placed around the instrument and the pitch is raised or lowered by opening any combination.  the tone is produced with a metal mouthpiece as with any other brass horn.  both franz joseph haydn (1732-1809) and johann nepomuk hummel (1778-1837) wrote concertos for the keyed trumpet and their works were the hallmarks of the literature for the trumpet.  the invention of the keyed trumpet is attributed to anton weidinger of vienna in 1801.  weidinger was a court trumpeter who was employed as a military trumpeter and theater musician, for whom haydn wrote his concerto. the keyed bugle was essentially the same as the keyed trumpet but with the bugle's distinctive conical shape.  the keyed bugle was made originally in england and became known to the public through the works of richard willis (17?-1830), an arranger, composer and performer.  the first patent was made by joseph halliday (dates unknown) in 1811.  halliday named his new instrument the royal kent bugle in honor of the duke of kent.  his patent called for five keys and the instrument made its way to the united states with willis when he was appointed bandmaster of the united states military academy band at west point, new york. two performers on the keyed bugle worth mentioning are francis johnson (1792-1844) and edward (ned) kendall (1808-1861).  johnson was a talented black bandleader who played many instruments including the keyed bugle.  he also composed music for his band which played for parades, military drills, and balls in philadelphia.  one of his compositions was the bugle quickstep, no doubt written with the instrument in mind.  the most important keyed bugle performer in the united states was ned kendall.  he started performing on the instrument around 1830, continuing the work begun by willis.  kendall perfected greater skill in playing and helped spread the popularity of the keyed bugle.  his solo skills were in high demand and he performed widely with a leading vocalist of the time, miss anna stone.  another performer on the keyed bugle was the bugler at west point, louis benz, who was the post bugler for forty years from 1830-1870.  photographs survive of benz with keyed bugles.       around the 1840s, while the keyed bugle was still popular, the development of valved brass instruments began to appear in the united states. this was the next step in making the trumpet and bugle chromatic instruments, and the development is highlighted in the story of the virtuoso instrumental piece called wood up quickstep, composed in 1835 by john holloway (dates unknown).  many tales of the origin of the piece exist but according to holloway it came to him while walking on the common in boston.  the piece became closely associated with ned kendall.  despite the invention of the valved cornet, kendall continued to play the keyed bugle all his life.  he took part in a famous contest with himself on the keyed bugle, playing against patrick gilmore on the valved cornet in december of 1856 in salem, ma.  the cont