New York
Firth, Pond & Co 

Boxwood, brass
ca. 1861-1863
Length:  15.25 inches
Wind Instruments – Woodwind Instruments – Flute

Stamped:  Firth, Pond & Co / 547 Broadway / N. York / C

This Civil War fife in C, by Firth Pond & Co., NY , is made of boxwood and has end caps of brass.  The fife is a woodwind/aerophone  in the transverse edge-blown flute family.  It sounds an octave above the written pitch and has 6 finger holes.

A Fife and Drum Corps is an USA musical ensemble of fifes and drums, specializing in colonial period impressions and used during the Civil War.  The music they originated from was a type of military field music.  The fifes have always been infantry musical instruments and were assigned to a company/regiment.  They were used to regulate (by signaling) the daily activities of the troops.