Miscellanea on the "Rebel Yell"

[Champ_F...@trader.com]

Here is some information on the Rebel Yell, gleaned from
miscellaneous sources.

Regards,

AS

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The following is from Vol. VII, 'The Confederate States of America',
_The History of the South_, ed. by E. Merton Coulter, Louisiana State
University Press, 1950:

"A characteristic peculiar to Confederate soldiers was the so-called
Rebel Yell, variously described as a shout 'more overpowering than the
cannon's roar'(1), 'a mingling of Indian whoop and wolf-howl' (2) 'the
scariest sound that ever split a human ear' (3), 'a soul harrowing
sound to hear.' (4) It was said to have originated spontaneously
at the First Battle of Manassas, and seems to have been born of a
spirit of triumph mixed with feelings of release from fright on going
into battle. Federals asserted that they heard Stonewall Jackson's
troops give the yell a mile away." pp. 455-6

References:

(1) [Hopeley], _Life in the South_, II, 21-22
(2) Augustine J.H. Duganne, _Camps and Prisons, Twenty Months in the
Department of the Gulf_ (3d ed., New York, 1865), 148.
(3) William M. Dame, _From the Rapidan to Richmond and the
Spotsylvania
Campaign. A Sketch in Personal Narration of the Scenes a Soldier
Saw_ (Baltimore, 1920), 77.
(4) Cable (ed.), "War Diary of a Union Woman in the South,' in _Famous
Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War_, 58. See also,
Ross,
_Visit to the Cities and Camps of the Confederate States_, 40;
William H. Morgan, _Personal Reminiscences of the War of 1861-5;
_In Camp--en Bivouac--on the March--on Picket--on the Skirmish
Line
--on the Battlefield--and in Prison (Lynchburg, 1911); Wiley,
_Life of Johnny Reb_, 71; _Confederate Veteran_, XIX (1911), 521-
22.

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A few years ago I stopped in the coffee shop at Paddington Station,
in London, seeking a dose of the caffeine alkaloid before my train
up to Oxford departed. I was in brief conversation there with a fellow
whose dialect conspicuously suggested that he was from Scotland.
Perhaps it is indicative of the turn my conversations tend to take
that we were soon talking about the Confederate South. He told me
there was a scholar in Scotland who believes that the Rebel Yell of
the Confederate soldiers represented "the last time the great Celtic
War Cry has been heard in history."

Perhaps that is not quite accurate though.

I am acquainted here with an elderly German fellow, Werner Ziegler,
who during WWII served in the Wermacht with General Student's elite
paratroops. In Italy Werner won the Iron Cross, during the defense
of Monte Casino. Werner listed off the allied forces who were
engaged in Italy. He said there were Americans, British, Free French,
Sikhs, Canadians, Texans, etc. I blinked. "TEXANS?" Why did he list
them separately from the "Americans"? He was referring to the 36th
Infantry Division, the Texas National Guard. At Salerno, as rather
green troops, they had been landed, and the air and naval support
they were supposed to receive never came. I think other landings
that were supposed to occur were delayed. In any case, they fought
inland and took their objectives. Then, seeing that they were
out on a limb and vulnerable, the Germans decided to destroy them,
bringing the full brunt of their military might to bear against
this lone division. The Texans suffered appalling casualties. They
were pushed back to the beaches. But they fought like hell. And
they were still there, holding their positions when the British 8th
Army came up from Sicily and linked up with them. Werner said
that after observing the incredible tenacity of the Texas troops,
German military intelligence decided it would be prudent to keep
separate track of them, apart from the "American" units that were
engaged in the campaign. [He told me this anecdote before he
learned that I am from the Lone Star State.] Werner said there
was also an occasion when the Texans attacked a German division
and drove them from their positions. He witnessed it happening
from a considerable distance away, and said it was terrible. Dead
and wounded Texans and Germans lying everywhere. Debris covering
the ground. The German infantry broke and the Texans were close
after them. And as the Texans attacked, he said that above the
din of the weapons, the Germans all heard this high yelling that
resonated across the terrain, a chilling thing to hear, like
from hordes of crazed wolves.

Hood's Texans broke the intrenched federal lines at Gaines Mill.
In the vanguard was the 4th Texas Infantry, led by Hood personally -
as he had originally been their Colonel. They were called "the
Hell Roaring Fourth" - probably means they raised a good Yell.

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William Manchester, in his reminiscences about his service in the
S. Pacific in the USMC during WWII, _Goodbye Darkness_, said that
during the bloody island fighting, it was the *Southerners* who would
leap up from their trenches to go meet the oncoming Japanese, raising
the *Rebel Yell* of their Confederate grandfathers. Manchester added,
"They loved the bayonet". A good friend of his from Alabama was
lying seriously wounded after a Japanese infantry attack had been
stopped. As this boy was carried away by medics, he was heard
to be muttering, while almost unconscious, "Vicksburg... Vicksburg..."

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I do not know if the _Confederate Veteran_ reference cited
above from _History of the South_ is the same one I read a while
back in the Bodleian Library [ XIX (1911), 521-22]. In one of the
original issues, I read a piece on the Rebel Yell written by
a veteran. He was responding to the curiosity people expressed to know
about the Yell, to hear old veterans raise the Yell, etc. His point
was, the Yell cannot easily be described, and it certainly CANNOT
be accurately raised at will, in a peacetime environment. I'm not
sure but think he might have been in the old Orphan Brigade. In any
case, he proceeded to describe a battle, an advance. The sensations.
The emotions. The *whop* of a Minie ball hitting somebody you know,
not far away from you. He named off names of people getting hit,
each time punctuating the name with a *whop* of a Minie ball goring
into them. He dramatically described how all this worked on your
spirit, the whole environment, everything that was going on, what you
felt and thought. And the. . .Yell. . .you didn't think, "I'll raise
the Yell", and usually nobody shouted out a command to raise the
Yell. The Yell just came up from within the souls of all the men, in
those circumstances, and only in those circumstances. And the
_History of the South_ description of it, that it "seems to have
been born of a spirit of triumph mixed with a feeling of release
from fright" was not too far from his views.

I once read of a Confederate soldier who was too badly wounded in
both his arms to carry a weapon. His unit was forming up for an
attack. An officer, seeing his condition, ordered him to the rear. He
protested that he was going to go in with his comrades. "I can
still raise the Yell", he explained.
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In _The Blue and the Gray_ compilation, Harvie Dew of the 9th
Virginia Cavalry writes on 'Rebel and Yankee Yells'. He attributes
the much greater volume and ferocity of the Rebel Yell to the fact
that more yankees were raised in towns and cities, whereas more
Southerners had grown up in the open country.

He says the yankees might go, "Hoo-ray! Hoo-ray! Hoo-ray!" -
and that they called this a "cheer", and it was intended for the
word "hurrah". But he says he never heard the pronunciation
"hurrah" in yankee yell (or "cheer") mode.

He does not, however, describe a Confederate infantry Yell, but
the cavalry Yell he was familiar with, and it is certainly very
different. Whereas the infantry Yell has the characteristics
more of a wolf-howl, a soul-chilling wildcat/tornado screaming,
etc. Dew's description of the CSA cavalry Yell is rendered,
"Woh-who-ey! who-ey! Woh-who-ey! who-ey!" The first syllable,
he says, the "Woh", is "sounded short and low, and second, "who",
is a "very high and prolonged note deflecting upon the third
syllable, "ey".
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