The Rebel Yell

[Stony]

Rare footage from the 1930"s of some vets doing the rebel yell.

 

[ole]

Almost unmanly. Yip, yip, yip.

 

[Allie]

One thing my Yankee husband finds funny is that many Southerners will bust out a rebel yell at a concert, game, or similar outdoor venue instinctively. It still sounds just like that. It always makes him jump and then laugh when a polite looking and usually reserved middle aged person lets out a high-pitched howl. I don't know where Hollywood got "Yee-haw" from, all the modern Rebels I know sound more like those old boys. I guess you grow up with it.

 

[ole]

Have long since lost the falsetto, yip. Of course, the kids fighting hadn't yet.

 

[AUG]

Further info on the veterans in the video:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/1932-rebel-yell-video.83290/#post-629696
https://mississippiconfederates.wor...war-cry-a-mississippian-gives-the-rebel-yell/

 

[Poor Sharecropper's Son]

Came across the video this morning and figured it was already posted here. Thanks for the additional insights

 

[7thWisconsin]

The yellingest army in history. Interesting that the gentlemen who could still get a falsetto register did the yell in very nearly the same pitch. Ya gotta love the old guy who's deaf as a post:" Yell!" "What?" "Yell!" "What?" Hope I can do as well in my 90s.
The yell sounds more like Native American battle cries than the "yee haw" stereotype. Has anyone pursued that connection?

 

[kholland]

I will always remember Shelby Foote's comment from Ken Burn's "The Civil War" about an old Confederate soldier who was asked if he could do "the yell". He said it would be a bit harder to do "with a full stomach and a mouth full of false teeth".

 

[Youngblood]

Thats neat.
Anyone notice the guys who are talking, are not very accented?
Makes you wonder about claims that the southern accent is a post war creation to be different.

All i know about that is my grandpappy was born in the 1920's and he sure had it.

 

[hrobalabama]

Almost unmanly. Yip, yip, yip.

Like mad Coyotes!

 

[Allie]

Thats neat.
Anyone notice the guys who are talking, are not very accented?
Makes you wonder about claims that the southern accent is a post war creation to be different.

All i know about that is my grandpappy was born in the 1920's and he sure had it.

Yankees today don't sound like Yankees in 1930's newscasts - accents evolve. But Southern accents sound different from Northern ones as far back as there's proof through recordings.

There are dozens of different "Southern accents." A Virginia and an Arkansas accent couldn't be less alike. But if you go back to 1860, half the people in Arkansas probably came from somewhere else. I should look that up, that's probably the kind of thing you could learn from the University of Virginia census server. How long does it take an accent to emerge from a population? I bet there are people whose whole job is studying this stuff.

 

[Waterloo50]

Seeing and hearing these men giving the rebel yell all they have got whilst they are laughing and clearly enjoying themselves is strange because it is out of context, hearing that noise on the battlefield would be a different story altogether. The psychological effect it would have had on their enemy must have been quite powerful and terrifying.

 

[AUG]

Thats neat.
Anyone notice the guys who are talking, are not very accented?
Makes you wonder about claims that the southern accent is a post war creation to be different.

All i know about that is my grandpappy was born in the 1920's and he sure had it.

It depends where you're from, but I think a lot of the "twangy" southern accents you hear now were not around back then. I suspect people probably had more of a "drawl" than a "twang", but that's just my guess. But, as Allie said, it really depends on where you're from - what state, raised in the city or the country, etc.

 

[Nathanb1]

Yankees today don't sound like Yankees in 1930's newscasts - accents evolve. But Southern accents sound different from Northern ones as far back as there's proof through recordings.

There are dozens of different "Southern accents." A Virginia and an Arkansas accent couldn't be less alike. But if you go back to 1860, half the people in Arkansas probably came from somewhere else. I should look that up, that's probably the kind of thing you could learn from the University of Virginia census server. How long does it take an accent to emerge from a population? I bet there are people whose whole job is studying this stuff.

We've had some really interesting threads on accents and once upon a time had a great link to some linguistics research that could pinpoint the source of an accent. Sadly, I have no idea where that's gotten to. On a bright note, you are correct about that Arkansas accent....lots of folks from northern climes headed that way when land was opened for settlement, just like Texas. We're a real mishmosh! Nothing funnier than listening to a movie or tv show with supposed Texas accents. (I was just watching Giant this morning. The only persons with a decent accent were Chill Wills and Earl Holliman, Jr.. Elizabeth Taylor came closer than Rock Hudson!)