The Full Drag is a British rudiment, used briefly by the Americans but died out by the mid-19th century.
Performed:
The Full Drag in British / American Music:
Although not named, this drum rudiment is used in several duty calls listed in The Young Drummer’s Assistant (c. 1780), such as The Troop and The Retreat. The sticking for these beatings persists into Potter’s (1815) drum manual, where he names the rudiment “The Drag and Stroke”.
This rudiment is named the “Full Drag” in Ashworth and Rumrille (as opposed to the Half Drag, or modern Drag). This rudiment likewise continues to be used in a few duty calls during this time. It is named in Klinehanse (1853) and Nevins (1861), where the rudiment still appears in some calls like Assembly and Rising of the Troop.
Many of the calls that originally used the Full Drag were either discarded (like the Rising of the Troop and Singlings of the Troop) or were altered (like Assembly, Adjutant’s Call, the Retreat) by the American Civil War. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that most manuals do not include the rudiment and is a little surprising that the rudiment is named in Bruce & Emmett (1862), even though it does not appear to be used in any duty call or beating. The rudiment disappears in Strube (1869) and seems to go extinct afterwards.
More Info:
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Great website, I’ve been browsing it all week. The Full Drag seems to show up many times after 1869, just not in a military context. It is mentioned in these civilian-oriented books: Bower 1898, Moeller 1925, Rollinson 1934, Rich 1942, Langey 1948, and Mott 1957.