The authentic Rebel Yell?

With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War under way, here are a couple of recordings that I found that are historically interesting, at least to Southerners. The subject is the fabled "rebel yell," the legendary war cry of Confederate soldiers as they began battle. Wikipedia's piece is very good.

One of the earliest accounts of use of the yell comes from the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) during then Brig. General Thomas Jonathan Stonewall Jackson's assault at Henry House Hill. An order was given during a bayonet charge to "yell like furies", which was instrumental in routing the Federal forces under General Irvin McDowell back to Washington D.C.

“Then arose that do-or-die expression, that maniacal maelstrom of sound; that penetrating, rasping, shrieking, blood-curdling noise that could be heard for miles and whose volume reached the heavens–such an expression as never yet came from the throats of sane men, but from men whom the seething blast of an imaginary hell would not check while the sound lasted.” -Colonel Keller Anderson of Kentucky's Orphan Brigade

"It paragons description, that yell! How it starts deep and ends high, how it rises into three increasing crescendos and breaks with a command of battle."-a New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter

The origin of the yell remains unknown. Some historians think it took after Indian war cries while others say it was of Celtic or Scottish highland heritage.

But what did it actually sound like? Wikipedia recounts,

“In an instant every voice with one accord vigorously shouted the ‘Rebel yell,’ which was so often heard on the field of battle. ‘Woh-who-ey! who-ey! who-ey! Woh-who-ey! who-ey!’ etc. (The best illustration of this "true yell" which can be given the reader is by spelling it as above, with directions to sound the first syllable ‘who’ short and low, and the second "who" with a very high and prolonged note deflecting upon the third syllable "ey.")”- Colonel Harvey Dew of the 9th Virginia Cavalry, in Century Illustrated Magazine (1892)

However, there are two credible audio recordings of the Rebel Yell made decades after the war. One was made in 1938 at the 75th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg. In newsreel footage taken of former Confederate and Union veterans of the battle shaking hands across a rock wall at a battle site known as The Angle, someone let out a whoop or two. The veteran standing nearest the camera turns and says, "That's the rebel yell."



Segtours comments,

Although weakly belted out here by a man near the age of 100, one can still imagine the fear that it must have struck into the northern army when they were being charged by hundreds of young men yelling it at once.

Or thousands! Speaking of a whole formation of Johnny Rebs yelling all at once, is it possible to recapture what that might have sounded like? There is another recording, purportedly of an elderly Confederate veteran giving the rebel yell. His name was Thomas Alexander of the 35th North Carolina Regiment, who made the recording in 1935 for a radio station at a regimental reunion. Here is the recording, followed by a contemporary digital special-effects simulation of Alexander's yell emulating that of a whole infantry company.



The largest Civil War veterans reunion ever held was at Gettysburg on the battle's 50th anniversary in 1913. More than 50,000 Civil War veterans of both armies attended, though not all had fought at Gettysburg, of course.

One story of the 1913 reunion I read said that when thousands of the Southern veterans lined up before Cemetery Ridge and together wailed out the rebel yell, a loud moan of despair arose from the Union veterans on the ridge. PTSD?

The elderly Confederate line advanced at a walk while the Union veterans crouched behind the stone wall of The Angle and other places along the old defensive line. No one else made a sound. When the two formations were only a dozen feet apart, suddenly all semblance of old military discipline was broken and the former enemies embraced and shook hands and slapped each others' backs.