Pipes of War

About Pipes of War

For centuries some men walked unarmed into gunfire carrying nothing but bagpipes. These are their stories. Pipes of War is an immersive journey through the lives of military pipers past and present — from Killiecrankie to Culloden, the trenches of the Somme to the sands of Kuwait. Through rare letters and diaries, veteran voices, and on-location storytelling, each episode uncovers the true stories behind the pipers who led soldiers into battle: men like George Findlater, Daniel Laidlaw, and James Richardson, the three pipers awarded the Victoria Cross. This is not just war history — it's the soundtrack of courage. We will expand to include modern service pipe bands, drummers, and more. Whether you're drawn to military history, Bagpipe and Scottish traditions, or simply extraordinary human stories of courage and inspiration, Pipes of War brings you the sound that men followed into hell-fire. From Paradigm Motion Picture Co. Learn more at pipesofwar.com (http://pipesofwar.com).

Publisher

Ian S. Williams

Category

history · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

13 Aug 2026

Latest episode

30 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

3 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Oct 2026

   Grace Notes from the Graveyard -Halloween Special

   Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! (https://rss.com/podcasts/pipes-of-war/voicemail) It's Halloween, the first night of winter by the old Gaelic calendar, and Ian Williams and Eric Evenhuis are at a fire with the pipes within reach. Sixteen ghost pipers, told the way they were handed down, and then the books opened to say what's actually true. You don't need to play the pipes to follow along. Content note: one story, Piper's Pond, involves suicide. Under the Hill: The Cave of Gold (Skye). The Boy Under the Royal Mile (Edinburgh). Dunderave (Argyll). Culzean (Ayrshire). On the Battlements: The Handless Piper of Duntrune, with "The Piper's Warning to His Master" played live. The Drummer of Cortachy. MacCrimmon Will Never Return. Where No Piper Could Be: Till We Meet at Ticonderoga. Dinna Ye Hear It (Lucknow, 1857). The Phantom Piper of the Corrieyairack (1958). The Pipes That Came Home (Piper James Richardson VC). Across the Water: The Piper and the Púca (Galway). Put Your Fingers in My Mouth (Cape Breton). Piper's Pond (Windsor, Nova Scotia). Four Days Too Late (Jamie Allan of Northumberland). The Piper in the Armoury: forty years of witnesses in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada's armoury in Vancouver, and the piper who waited through four years of renovation for the regiment to come home. Tunes: "The Cave of Gold," "The Piper's Cave," "The Piper's Warning to His Master," "Cha till MacCruimein," "The Campbells Are Coming," "The Phantom Piper of Corrieyairack," "The Black Rogue." Send us your ghost piper for next year's Paranormal Pibroch segment through pipesofwar.com (http://pipesofwar.com), or record a voice memo and tell it in your own words. If you're a Seaforth Highlander of Canada, we'd love to know the tune. Full sources and further reading at pipesofwar.com (http://pipesofwar.com). A five-star rating and a review is the smallest act of remembrance. Patreon: Patreon link. (https://patreon.com/PipesofWar?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink) Patrons fund the research and production and get a discount at the Quartermaster Store. Until next time.

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   The Lost Pipers of the Little Bighorn

   Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. (https://rss.com/podcasts/pipes-of-war/voicemail) The Scots of the 7th: menwithcuster.com (http://menwithcuster.com) (Peter Groundwater Russell) — Stuart Forbes/”Hiley” (/26/), Charles Scott (/53/), Alexander Brown (/05/), James Hill (/27/), Thomas Conlan (/10/); littlebighorn.info (http://littlebighorn.info) rosters — Hamilton, Callan, Moodie, McMasters; clan-forbes.org/post/little-bighorn (http://clan-forbes.org/post/little-bighorn) (family, plaque); Russell & Hodgson, English by Birth, Scottish by Blood (English Westerners’ Society, 2016); Glasgow Sunday Post, 14 Sept 2003 (via friendslittlebighorn.com (http://friendslittlebighorn.com)) — “10 Scots” count and gambling-debts claim. Campaign & battle: NPS Little Bighorn Battle Story & Chronology (nps.gov/libi); Terry’s order and Gatling/2nd Cav refusals (HistoryNet; HMdb Rosebud campsite marker); Windolph, I Fought with Custer (1946) — last “Garryowen” (says Tongue River; historians place the depot at Powder River, June 15); Bruce P. Gleason, “The Mounted Band and Field Musicians of the U.S. 7th Cavalry,” Historic Brass Society Journal 21 (2009); Garryowen origins (Garraí Eoin, Limerick) — standard references; 1st Cavalry Division Assn. (“as the story goes” — drunk-trooper legend); news chronology — W.A. Graham, The Custer Myth (Bozeman Times July 3, Helena Herald July 4); ND State Historical Society facsimile of the Bismarck Tribune extra, July 6, 1876. Archaeology & Native accounts: Douglas D. Scott interview (savingplaces.org (http://savingplaces.org)); Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, “Dig of 1984”; Scott, Fox, Connor & Harmon, Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1989); Richard A. Fox Jr., Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle (1993) The 150th (June 2026): AP via Las Vegas Sun (380+ riders, victory commemoration); NPR, June 27, 2026 (19 tribal nations; “cup of coffee” — Christopher Eagle Bear, Sicangu Lakota); KTVQ (Real Bird 34th annual, June 26–28, record crowds; Jim Real Bird quotes); Buffalo’s Fire 150th schedule (“Victory Day” usages; Arvol Looking Horse memorial ride); NPS 150th page. Montana pipers: John Dally, “Some Forgotten History of Piping in the Pacific Northwest” (APNA, June 28, 2012; pipersgathering.org (http://pipersgathering.org)) — MacRae ranch, Kintail recruitment, Butte rendezvous, Mather biography; pipetunes.ca (http://pipetunes.ca) Mather composer bio (medals, estates, 1901 emigration, Bozeman 1943); pipingpress.com (http://pipingpress.com) Oban & Inverness medallist rolls (Mather 1891, 1899); Strathnaver Museum, “Pioneering Bagpipes” (Sutherland of Rogart; Oregon Trail pipes; ranch roster); Bagpipe News: “Who was Simon Fraser?” (Apr. 20, 2020 — Pearson, Bismarck Tribune, Oban Times 1974, A.K. Cameron) and “Donald Sutherland’s pipes with a pioneer spirit” (July 12, 2023); NLS checklist of bagpipe MSS — A.K. Cameron papers MSS 9613–9624; Pearson thesis Acc. 8424. The legend chain: Scottish Sunday Express (1975) via The Highlander Vol. 13 No. 4 (Oct. 1975) — quotes from Ian Williams’s research notes (~2006), original not yet re-located; October 1975 absent from FamilySearch Library microfilm (verified June 2026); Pearson newspaper appeals (two original clippings held by Ian Williams — transcribed in Section 3); Schenectady Pipe Band legacy history page (uncited trivia line); Winans background — Winans v Macrae (1885) 22 SLR 692; Scottish Legal News.

3. 

   13 Aug 2026

   Welcome to the Pipes of War

   Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. (https://rss.com/podcasts/pipes-of-war/voicemail) On the worst days in military history, some men walked forward carrying no rifle at all — only their bagpipes. The Pipes of War is a new podcast celebrating and remembering the pipers of the past and present: the instrument that led men into battle, and the men and women who played it. Host Ian Williams — a piper for more than four decades and the foremost authority on Piper James Cleland Richardson, VC — introduces the project: its roots in the 1920 book The Pipes of War by Seton and Grant, which recorded some 500 pipers killed and 600 wounded in the Great War; his 20-plus years of research into Jimmy Richardson and the battlefield pipes of Regina Trench; and the mission to dig through archives, regimental museums, family letters, and diaries to bring forgotten names back into the light. Coming episodes feature pipers who fought and fell long ago, pipers serving today in regiments across the world, and the piping world's greats — including Jack Lee, one of the most decorated competitive pipers in history; Scott Methven, 15th Piper to the Sovereign; and Pipe Major Roger McGuire, who helped discover and repatriate Richardson's Victoria Cross pipes — the most famous pipes in Canadian military history. Plus regimental drum majors, police and firefighter pipe bands, Emerald Societies, and the legends, and lore. Recorded in the field — competition grounds, barracks, armouries, and regimental museums — a little raw, a little rough, and entirely from the heart. Tune in. Take one moment out of your week — just to remember. Lest we forget. New episodes at PipesOfWar.com (http://PipesOfWar.com) Follow @PipesOfWar

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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