# Question regarding the "Rebel Yell" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601 "2015-10-05T12:12:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/1 "2015-10-05T12:12:53Z")
Hi, On the subject of the “Rebel Yell” Geoffrey Ward’s book “The Civil War” states on p. 222. " “We don’t really know what it sounded like. It was basically, I think, a sort of fox-hunt yip mixed up with a sort of banshee squall…”. I’ve never been to any Civil War reenactments, but I can imagine participants acting the part of Confederates trying to come up with a likely version of it. Can anyone enlighten me on that question? I look forward to your feedback. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/2 "2015-10-05T12:29:46Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > Can anyone enlighten me on that question? I assume your question is, “what did a rebel yell sound like?” The quote from your book appears to be bunk, as there is archival footage of Confederate veterans performing it on tape. You might also be interested in the work of one Professor Idol, who authored a seminal work on the subject. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BPwZaQfoIbU/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gEygkMA8=&rs=AOn4CLADu0095mlwqpPOY7aEDhcw63WTzw "Billy Idol - Rebel Yell (Lyrics)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPwZaQfoIbU) ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/3 "2015-10-05T12:33:56Z")
This seems to come close [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7mGAesLYlF8/hqdefault.jpg "What the Rebel Yell Sounded Like") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mGAesLYlF8) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/4 "2015-10-05T12:36:09Z")
It has always been a mystery to me why the Yankees found this terrifying. I wouldn’t want to be charged by 1000 men with bayonets hooting like owls; but it wouldn’t be the hooting that worried me. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/5 "2015-10-05T12:54:34Z")
The Yankees did it, too, though their yell was deeper and – as they described it – “more manly.” It meant that shit was about to get real – this wasn’t a skirmish, but rather a full-fledged attack. Since the battlefield was filled with smoke, you’d hear it before you saw anything. You were being warned that a ton of rebels were on their way, and a small force might just break and run, believing they were outnumbered. Also, by yelling together the attack force is more bound together. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/6 "2015-10-05T14:03:06Z")
Or the defence force can immediately know where to aim. Still not terrifying though. I know these guys in the YouTubes were pretty old; but voices of the mid-nineteenth century seem rather higher-pitched even when younger. ( From nineteenth century recordings etc… ) I don’t know if people before that were higher or lower ( although Henry VIII, like a lot of XXX-sized fellows, had a distinctively high voice, probably tenor ? [for deep booming basses look to the little slender chaps] ) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/7 "2015-10-05T15:35:56Z")
Whether there’s any real connection or not, I have always thought/imagined it would sound like this yell from [Thunder in the Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzt522F3QBs) (a decent enough movie in its day). ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/8 "2015-10-05T15:52:45Z")
[quote=“Claverhouse, post:6, topic:733601”] Or the defence force can immediately know where to aim. Still not terrifying though. I know these guys in the YouTubes were pretty old; but voices of the mid-nineteenth century seem rather higher-pitched even when younger. ( From nineteenth century recordings etc… ) Lincoln’s too. > **[Daniel Day-Lewis Criticized For 'Lincoln' Voice](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lincoln-voice-daniel-day-lewis_n_1883693)** > > Daniel Day-Lewis Criticized For 'Lincoln' Voice > **[Abraham Lincoln's Squeaky, High-pitched Voice](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=101140)** > > Over the years, I’ve read/heard various individuals repeating “eyewitness” accounts that Abraham Lincoln had a squeaky, high-pitched voice. Yes, we all know this by now as “common knowledge,” but I’m left wondering if it is actually a myth that has... ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/9 "2015-10-05T15:55:45Z")
I seem to recall, but cannot cite, that Confederate veterans disagreed about the yell years after the war, and that the recorded versions are not necessarily authoritative. I know many historians regard the exact sound of the yell as lost to history…presumably they knew what they were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/10 "2015-10-05T16:02:49Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > It has always been a mystery to me why the Yankees found this terrifying. > I wouldn’t want to be charged by 1000 men with bayonets hooting like owls; but it wouldn’t be the hooting that worried me. One tale from the war days is that when Stonewall Jackson’s men completed their flank march at Chancellorsville, it was late in the day, so they wasted little time forming a rough line and then went forward through the dense underbrush. Thorns and branches tore at their already-ragged clothes, Because they were trying to surprise the Union boys, no Rebel Yell was given before contact. The Union troops on the extreme flank, a unit largely of German extraction, were cooking breakfast when hundreds of woodland animals began bounding out of the underbrush in terror. Allegedly many of them began laughing and pointing at the sight; only the veterans realized the terrified critters were being driven by a wave of humanity. Moments later, the half-clothed rebels, covered with scratches, emerged from the woods in great strength and began the yell as they swept down on the unprepared Germans, whose weapons were mostly stacked. Thus began an epic skedaddle. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/11 "2015-10-05T16:34:29Z")
She cried, “more, more, more!” ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/12 "2015-10-05T16:44:24Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > She cried, “more, more, more!” But only in the midnight hour ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/13 "2015-10-05T17:46:40Z")
What many that dismiss the yells of the old confederate rebels forget is that they are yelling individually. When combined into what multiple numbers of confederates would scream together is when the thing becomes scary, really unnatural. It seem that **davidmich** link was ignored as there was very little explanation about the clever recreation that was made. [quote=“davidmich, post:3, topic:733601”] This seems to come close [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > But one of the things Hollywood, with its movies, or Kunstler with his artwork, could never possibly recreate, are the sounds of battle, the sounds of ACTUAL battle. > > What must it have sounded like when Stonewall Jackson’s Virginians charged down Henry House Hill after Old Jack commanded them to “Yell like furies!” > > This, the moment of the birth of what came to be known as the Rebel Yell. What must it have sounded like?" > > This bone chilling, mortifying, hair raising sound is the stuff of legend. How could we today, curious of the past, know what it sounded like? > > To the Civil War enthusiast, such a concept might seem impossible. But… with an idea and a little bit of ingenuity and technology, the History Publishing Company, Palisades, NY, has made it possible to recreate the sound of the Confederate Battle Cry. > > At a 1935 meeting of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, ninety-year-old Thomas Alexander, a veteran of the 37th North Carolina Regiment, was ask to deliver his rendition of the Rebel Battle Cry to a local radio station. > > Thanks to that recording, History Publishing Company was later able to have the recording amplified and patterned to match the sound of a Confederate company charging across the battlefield. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/14 "2015-10-05T18:33:19Z")
It’s not like we haven’t had battle cries since the dawn of time. Some may have been more effective than others; either to improve one’s own spirits, or to lend cohesion, or to worry the foe. This one is less disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/15 "2015-10-05T18:42:29Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I seem to recall, but cannot cite, that Confederate veterans disagreed about the yell years after the war, and that the recorded versions are not necessarily authoritative. I know many historians regard the exact sound of the yell as lost to history…presumably they knew what they were talking about. Possibly before these recordings came to wide notice? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/16 "2015-10-05T18:48:52Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > It’s not like we haven’t had battle cries since the dawn of time. Some may have been more effective than others; either to improve one’s own spirits, or to lend cohesion, or to worry the foe. This one is less disturbing. To modern ears maybe, but Union Soldiers beg to differ. > **[Mr. Lincoln's Army](https://books.google.com/books?id=PVuMCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT293&lpg=PT293&dq=%22it%2Bis%2Bnothing%2Blike%2Ba%2Bhurrah%22&source=bl&ots=ZIUC3qCIji&sig=1zmMZp2HR5C7Eud668n6XU0iljI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIjans8v6ryAIVxCaUCh0HSAhM#v=onepage&q=%22it%20is%20nothing%20like%20a%20hurrah%22&f=false)** > > A vivid account of the early battles, first in the Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy: “One of America’s foremost Civil War authorities” (Kirkus Reviews). The first book in Bruce Catton’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Mr. Lincoln’s... > [@](#): > > “I have never, since I was born, heard so fearful a noise as a rebel yell,” one Union soldier avowed. "It is nothing like a hurrah, but rather a regular wildcat screech.” It was not an uncommon opinion among the Union soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/17 "2015-10-06T08:49:48Z")
Ken Burns definitive miniseries _The Civil War_ contained a bit of actual footage from the 75[sup]th[/sup] anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg. [In this part of it](https://youtu.be/mumPcoIZa_I?t=43) a few of the old confederate veterans can be heard giving ‘the rebel yell’. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-rebel-yell/733601/18 "2015-10-06T12:14:48Z")
You’d think that screaming to get ones nerves up would be the default. The ancestors of many of the Confederates, the Celts and later the Scots, had run wildly into battle too. But the controlled formations of the Romans and English defeated them. Under Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedes went into battle singing hymns, which unnerved their opponents because it showed tighter nerves than just wild yelling. Union soldiers probably would be psychologically effected by the screaming, but only because they hadn’t been drilled as thoroughly as traditional European armies. But when the Texas Ranges used tactics they’d learned from the Comanches against a smaller force of German immigrants in the 32nd Indiana who knew how to form an infantry square, guess who won? Even the Japanese eventually gave up the Banzai charge.