Drummer Hoff is the title and main character of a children's book by Barbara and Ed Emberley

Ed Emberley

Edward Randolph Emberley is an American artist and illustrator.- Biography :Emberley studied art at the Massachusetts School of Art in Boston , from which he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and illustration...

. Ed Emberley won the 1968 Caldecott Medal

Caldecott Medal

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children , a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published that year. The award was named in honor of nineteenth-century English...

 for the book's illustrations. Written by Barbara Emberley, it tells a tale of seven soldiers who build a cannon named the "Sultan", and Drummer Hoff, who fires it off, with the book exploding into a blast of colors. The last picture shows the exploded cannon at a future point in time among wildflowers and birds.
The illustrations evoke both 1960s psychedelic

Psychedelic

The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...

a and Colonial America

Colonial America

The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...

n engravings.
In 1969 it was transformed into an animated 6 minute theatrical short, Directed By Gene Deitch

Gene Deitch

Eugene Merril "Gene" Deitch is an American illustrator, animator and film director. He has been based in Prague, capital of Czechoslovakia and the present-day Czech Republic, since 1959. Since 1968, Deitch has been the leading animation director for the Connecticut organization Weston...

 and
produced by Morton Schindel

Morton Schindel

Morton Schindel is an American educator and producer, the founder of Weston Woods Studios, which specializes in adapting children's books into animated films. He named the company after the wooded area outside his home in Weston, Connecticut...

 of Weston Woods Studios

Weston Woods Studios

Weston Woods Studios is a production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded area near his home. The company's first project was Andy and the Lion in 1954, and its...

. It was released on DVD in 2008.

Characters (in order of appearance)

• Drummer Hoff
• Private Parriage
• Corporal Farrell
• Sergeant Chowder
• Captain Bammer
• Major Scott
• General Border