The Rebel Yell
The famous Confederate war cry
The Yell
Sound: Different people have perceived the sound of the yell in different ways. Some movies might portray it as a typical Southern cowboy styled “Yee Haw!” while other sources believe it sounded more like a native american war cry. There is only one known existing audio of the yell being performed by veterans of the civil war. To this day, this old video has been the only reliable source for what the rebel yell really sounded like. The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6jSqt39vFM
Purpose: The shrilling yell was used while performing powerful charges in battle. The loud noise both threw the enemy off balance with fear and invigorated the Confederate ranks with the adrenaline of a primal battle. Union soldiers describe the yell as “spine-tingling”, saying that, no matter who you are, when you hear the shrieks it invokes fear.
Origin
Native Americans: It is known that many of the native american tribes within North America sided with the Confederacy. A probable origin for the rebel yell originates within native american battle cries. It is already known that some units pronounced the yell differently. For example, the Texas units had a native Comanche tribe spin on the pronunciation of the yell.
Scottish/Celtic: Historian Grady McWhiney argues that the yell originated from the Scottish Highlanders who used the cry as the charged into battle. This argument is further pushed as the population of people with Celtic origin in the South far outnumbered the North
Nature: The final popular belief of origin is that it simply comes from nature. The sound is frequently described as some sort of dog howling as it hunts. It is very plausible that the Confederate soldiers would imitate this sound in order to strike fear into the enemy’s hearts, almost telling them that they would be hunted by ruthless dogs.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/civil-war-veterans-come-alive-in-audio-and-video-recordings-97841665/#WgKy0YtkxrMPfszF.99
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/civil-war-veterans-come-alive-in-audio-and-video-recordings-97841665/#WgKy0YtkxrMPfszF.99
This is a very good post. It is always interesting reading about the subtler aspects of war, like their battle cries. Good job in analyzing the cry and comparing it to other historic battle cries like those of the native Americans and celts. After doing a little bit of research, it seems that the north didn't exactly have an equivalent battle cry, but the song seen as the symbol of the union was "The Battle Cry of Freedom" composed by Williard A and Porter W Heaps.
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