Winfield Scott Rebels

The Beau Geste Brigade senior corps was formed in the late 1950s and was sponsored by VFW Past 2193 (Winfield Scott) in Maywood Illinois. It was a very small corps that took its name from the movie Beau Geste, and wore French Foreign Legion caps (with the drape on the back).

They kept that name until about 1962 when they took the name Winfield Scott Rebels, with the Winfield Scott part due to the sponsoring organization, and the Rebels part due to the centennial of the Civil War and the fact that several of the members of the color guard in particular liked to think of themselves as “rebels”. (Contrary to some reports at the time, Winfield Scott was not a Confederate General, but rather served in the Union Army until late 1861 when Lincoln accepted his resignation)

In 1963, the Rebels underwent a series of major changes. They got the red blouse/white pants uniforms. They switched instructors and brought in many from the Cavaliers (doing double duty as I recall), who also brought in several of the 1962 age-outs from the Cavaliers, and the corps got sponsorship from the Broadview IL American Legion post 626 so they could participate in the Illinois American Legion state contest as well as the VFW one.

The Rebels’ 1963 uniforms were almost green and white – green blouses like the red ones, and white pants with green stripes that the corps was going to buy used from a defunct corps. However, there was a lot of pushback from several of the older corps members about being called the Cavalier senior corps with that color combination, so red won out.

The Winfield Scott Rebels, formed in 1963, was a senior marching and maneuvering corps based in Broadview, Illinois. They were sponsored by the Broadview American Legion Post 626 and the Winfield Scott VFW Post 2193.

The corps won the VFW State Championships 1961-63 and the American Legion Championship in 1963.

The corps was decimated when a full one third of their membership was drafted in the Vietnam War in February and March, 1964.

[Encyclopedia of Drum and Bugle Corps, 1966; DCW, 2/02, p.3; Bill Markham 8/16/05]

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