Rebel Yell

gem

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
The Rebel Yell Lives: Part I - Rediscovering History

Published on Feb 23, 2010
This video, the first of two parts, examines the efforts of the Museum of the Confederacy to identify the authentic sound of the rebel yell. Museum President and CEO Waite Rawls describes the project, which involved locating original recordings of Confederate veterans and using those recordings to make an educational and entertaining compact disc.



 
The Rebel Yell Lives: Part II - Reenactors Charge Forward

Published on Feb 22, 2010
This video, the second of two parts, shows some of the results of the Museum of the Confederacy's rebel yell project. Historical reenactor Henry Kidd shares how he has used "The Rebel Yell Lives" CD to teach fellow reenactors the authentic rebel yell. Also included is footage of Mr. Kidd instructing 400 members of Longstreet's Corps at the 145th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek in Middletown, Virginia.

 
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?as...linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_sbB5BbKNB82TE

Found this book a couple of years ago in my local bookstore. Seems there were many versions of the yell. And it does confirm the Scottish roots mentioned above. At an LSU game, a few years ago I started doing my version of the rebel yell, when opponents were on our side in south end-zone. My daughter just looked at me like I was crazy, and started laughing. :rolleyes: They didn't score!:D
 
We've seen both of these videos here on these pages previously. I know the first video includes an audio recording of an authentic rebel yell being given by an authentic rebel veteran. However, he is just one man. In my view, it's plain silly to think that every rebel gave the yell just that way. In fact, we have seen other videos of other authentic rebel veterans giving an entirely different version of the yell. For example, watch this Library of Congress video, filmed in the 1930s:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/history/what-did-the-rebel-yell-sound-like/
 
I had read of it compared to a fox hunt, here's hounds on the hunt for comparison

I actually do associate the "origins" of the Rebel Yell with dogs...but a bit differently.:wink:

I am old enough to admit that I used to go raccoon hunting at night with my Dad and my older brother. When our pack of coonhounds would strike a trail and began their baying, my Dad would "holler them on" to encourage them. As the trail got hot and they "treed" the raccoon or ran him to ground, their baying tempo would change and so would my Dad's "yells." At least in my mind, after I first discovered the Rebel Yell, I always imagined the sounds my Dad made "hollering on" the coonhounds as what the Rebel Yell must have sounded like. I can only imagine what that sound magnified by 10,000 pairs of adrenaline pumped lungs yelling simultaneously, must have sounded like to the Yankees on the receiving end of a major Rebel assault.

I think a truly authentic yell would actually be very difficult to duplicate without the same amount of adrenaline and fear coursing through your veins as actually existed under the "real" conditions.
 
I agree , the Rebel yell probably couldn't be duplicated in peaceful times or in this day and age. The juices had to be flowing to really give it authenticity. And no One man could do it. Even back then. It took thousands. And it must have been absolutely terrifying.
 
I'v read that the Rebel yell sprang from the war whoops of the Scottish Highlanders.

The 'Rebel Yell' was actually born in a Native American hunting cry, meant to scare the daylights out of prey and flush it from the bush. The practice of soldiers 'yelling' in one form or another is ancient, however. It relieves them of stress in attacking and scares the attacked.

The Confederates didn't invent the practice but were very good at utilizing their own version of it. Union soldiers in their diaries and letters described their own hair standing up at the sound of it.
 
I currently have a copy of, "Dammit, Holler 'em Across"- The History of the Rebel Yell, by Terryl W. Elliot on eBay (item # 372468579223). This book is a first edition and is double signed by the author.

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One of the most colorful and enduring legends to come out of the Civil War is that of the Rebel Yell. Where did it come from? What did it sound like? How was it used? Did it have the effect on the Union troops which Civil War lore indicates? In this book, author Terryl W. Elliot, attempts to answer these and many other questions, as well as relating entertaining and interesting incidents and stories.
From its beginning in the Celtic regions of Great Britain, to the mountains and hollows of the rural South, to the American Indian inhabited plains of the West, the Rebel Yell, and the people most associated with it, are traced through the centuries to the Civil War and beyond.
Condition:
~ Like new condition. Doesn't look like it has ever been read. Tight and stiff. No markings other that double signed autograph by
the Author.
~ Published by Partisan Press Independence, Kansas City, San Francisco; 2009; 221 pages; indexed.

***Fast 1-Day Shipping from Boonville, Mo--The Heart of the Boonslick***

 
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