Noble and Cooley of East Granville, Massachusetts started manufacturing drums in 1854. They specialized in making maple drums during the Civil War for Union Regiments. Civil War drums were generally sixteen inches in diameter, smaller than prior drums by about two inches to accommodate the drummers, who were often younger boys. This drum measures about seventeen inches in diameter and is associated with music teacher Theodore Ingalls King (1854-1906) of Portland and Washington D.C.