ALABAMA HERITAGE
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Back Issues >
      • Back Issues 141-150 >
        • Issue 150, Fall 2023
        • Issue 149, Summer 2023
        • Issue 147, Winter 2023
        • Issue 148, Spring 2023
        • Issue 146, Fall 2022
        • Issue 145, Summer 2022
        • Issue 144, Spring 2022
        • Issue 143, Winter 2022
        • Issue 142, Fall 2021
        • Issue 141, Summer 2021
      • Back Issues 131-140 >
        • Issue 140, Spring 2021
        • Issue 138, Fall 2020
        • Issue 137, Summer 2020
        • Issue 136, Spring 2020
        • Issue 135, Winter 2020
        • Issue 134, Fall 2019
        • Issue 133, Summer 2019
        • Issue 132 Spring 2019
        • Issue 131, Winter 2019
      • Back Issues 121-130 >
        • Issue 130, Fall 2018
        • Issue 129, Summer 2018
        • Issue 128, Spring 2018
        • Issue 127, Winter 2018
        • Issue 126, Fall 2017
        • Issue 125 Summer 2017
        • Issue 124, Spring 2017
        • Issue 123, Winter 2017
        • Issue 122, Fall 2016
        • Issue 121, Summer 2016
      • Back Issues 111-120 >
        • Issue 120, Spring 2016
        • Issue 119, Winter 2016
        • Issue 118, Fall 2015
        • Issue 117, Summer 2015
        • Issue 116, Spring 2015
        • Issue 115, Winter 2015
        • Issue 114, Fall 2014
        • Issue 113, Summer 2014
        • Issue 112, Spring 2014
        • Issue 111, Winter 2014
      • Back Issues 101-110 >
        • Issue 110, Fall 2013
        • Issue 109, Summer 2013
        • Issue 108, Spring 2013
        • Issue 107, Winter 2013
        • Issue 106, Fall 2012
        • Issue 105, Summer 2012
        • Issue 104, Spring 2012
        • Issue 103, Winter 2012
        • Issue 102, Fall 2011
        • Issue 101, Summer 2011
      • Back Issues 91-100 >
        • Issue 100, Spring 2011
        • Issue 99, Winter 2011
        • Issue 98, Fall 2010
        • Issue 97, Summer 2010
        • Issue 96, Spring 2010
        • Issue 95, Winter 2010
        • Issue 94, Fall 2009
        • Issue 93, Summer 2009
        • Issue 92, Spring 2009
        • Issue 91, Winter 2009
      • Back Issues 81-90 >
        • Issue 90, Fall 2008
        • Issue 89, Summer 2008
        • Issue 88, Spring 2008
        • Issue 87, Winter 2008
        • Issue 86, Fall 2007
        • Issue 85, Summer 2007
        • Issue 84, Spring 2007
        • Issue 83, Winter 2007
        • Issue 82, Fall 2006
        • Issue 81, Summer 2006
      • Back Issues 71-80 >
        • Issue 80, Spring 2006
        • Issue 79, Winter 2006
        • Issue 78, Fall 2005
        • Issue 77, Summer 2005
        • Issue 76, Spring 2005
        • Issue 75, Winter 2005
        • Issue 74, Fall 2004
        • Issue 73, Summer 2004
        • Issue 72, Spring 2004
        • Issue 71, Winter 2004
      • Back Issues 61-70 >
        • Issue 70, Fall 2003
        • Issue 69, Summer 2003
        • Issue 68, Spring 2003
        • Issue 67, Winter 2003
        • Issue 66, Fall 2002
        • Issue 65, Summer 2002
        • Issue 64, Spring 2002
        • Issue 63, Winter 2002
        • Issue 62, Fall 2001
        • Issue 61, Summer 2001
      • Back Issues 51-60 >
        • Issue 60, Spring 2001
        • Issue 59, Winter 2001
        • Issue 58, Fall 2000
        • Issue 57, Summer 2000
        • Issue 56, Spring 2000
        • Issue 55, Winter 2000
        • Issue 54, Fall 1999
        • Issue 53, Summer 1999
        • Issue 52, Spring 1999
        • Issue 51, Winter 1999
      • Back Issues 41-50 >
        • Issue 50, Fall 1998
        • Issue 49, Summer 1998
        • Issue 48, Spring 1998
        • Issue 47, Winter 1998
        • Issue 46, Fall 1997
        • Issue 45, Summer 1997
        • Issue 44, Spring 1997
        • Issue 43, Winter 1997
        • Issue 42, Fall 1996
        • Issue 41, Summer 1996
      • Back Issues 31-40 >
        • Issue 40, Spring 1996
        • Issue 39, Winter 1996
        • Issue 38, Fall 1995
        • Issue 37, Summer 1995
        • Issue 36, Spring 1995
        • Issue 35, Winter 1995
        • Issue 34, Fall 1994
        • Issue 33, Summer 1994
        • Issue 32, Spring 1994
        • Issue 31, Winter 1994
      • Back Issues 21-30 >
        • Issue 30, Fall 1993
        • Issue 29, Summer 1993
        • Issue 28, Spring 1993
        • Issue 27, Winter 1993
        • Issue 26, Fall 1992
        • Issue 25, Summer 1992
        • Issue 24, Spring 1992
        • Issue 23, Winter 1992
        • Issue 22, Fall 1991
        • Issue 21, Summer 1991
      • Back Issues 11-20 >
        • Issue 20, Spring 1991
        • Issue 19, Winter 1991
        • Issue 18, Fall 1990
        • Issue 17, Summer 1990
        • Issue 16, Spring 1990
        • Issue 15, Winter 1990
        • Issue 14, Fall 1989
        • Issue 13, Summer 1989
        • Issue 12, Spring 1989
        • Issue 11, Winter 1989
      • Back Issues 1-10 >
        • Issue 10, Fall 1988
        • Issue 9, Summer 1988
        • Issue 8, Spring 1988
        • Issue 7, Winter 1988
        • Issue 6, Fall 1987
        • Issue 5, Summer 1987
        • Issue 4, Spring 1987
        • Issue 3, Winter 1987
        • Issue 2, Fall 1986
        • Issue 1, Summer 1986
    • Bonus Materials >
      • Alabama Heritage Blog
      • Alabama Territory
      • Becoming Alabama >
        • Creek War Era
        • Civil War Era
        • Civil Rights Movement
      • From the Vault
      • History in Ruins
      • The Nature Journal
      • Places in Peril
      • Recipes
    • Digital Features
    • Links of Interest
  • Online Store
    • Customer Service
  • About Us
    • Awards
    • AH History
    • Board of Directors
    • Meet Our Team
    • News
    • Writer's Guidelines and Submissions
  • Search
  • Donate
Published by The University of Alabama,
The University of Alabama at Birmingham,
and the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Listening For The Rebel Yell

5/20/2019

 
Rebel Yell
Today, scholars are generally of the opinion that the Rebel yell originated at the Battle of Bull Run in 1861.(Library of Congress)
​ It began as a military tactic, but its name has been used to christen everything from pop records to a brand of bourbon. In the words, some hear a noble independent streak. Others recognize malicious insurrection. Still others find the echoes of a significant cultural heritage. But for most of us, these are just associations, assigned after the fact. In truth, few people understand the origins of the rebel yell, and even fewer have ever heard a bona fide version of it. In fact, to most of us, the true rebel yell remains, like the nation it represented, ghostlike, an enigmatic presence that we evoke for various purposes, but that we could not reproduce with any accuracy. 
Some of the earliest known references to the rebel yell are found in Civil War diaries. In June 1862, Confederate George Michael Neese described “General Dick Taylor’s Louisianians…giving the Rebel yell like mad demons.” Several years later, writing as a POW from Maryland’s Point Lookout, Neese describes the prisoners’ reaction when a visiting band plays “Dixie” as entertainment: “As the first sweet strain swelled over the listening throng the prisoners all over camp gave a regular Rebel yell that shook the prison walls.” (Neese adds that the band hastily transitioned into “Hail Columbia” to quell the prisoners’ enthusiasm.)

Other diaries, penned by members of both the Union and the Confederacy, attempt to describe precisely what the cry sounded like. Accounts vary widely, characterizing it as “wild,” “soul-stirring,” and “deafening,” and calling it everything from “that strange fierce cry” to “a high shrill yelp, uttered without concert.” One author simply records the sounds he heard: “yi — yi — yi.”
​
Several combat memoirs attempt to locate the origins of the shout, though contemporary scholars commonly believe it first emerged at the Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Part intimidation technique, part rallying force, the rambunctious cry served to inspire participants and render opponents fearful. In some dire situations, it may have been a commander’s last resort. As one veteran observed, “If a recruit had nothing at hand but the ‘rebel yell,’ he could at least help to intimidate an adversary.”

The 1901 memoirs of Samuel Gibbs French offer a particularly poetic description of the rebel yell, though it should be noted that French’s role as a Confederate leader may have tinted his recollection with nostalgia:

The “Rebel yell” was born amidst the roar of cannon, the flash of the musket, the deadly conflict, comrades falling, and death in front—then, when rushing forward, that unearthly yell rose from a thousand Confederate throats, loud…and with the force of a tornado they swept on over the field to death or victory. O how the heart throbs and the eye glares! As that yell is the offspring of the tempest of the battle and death, it cannot be heard in peace, no, never, never! The Federal cheer lives on, and is heard daily in the land. That Confederate yell was never, as far as I know, made when standing still. It was really an inspiration arising from facing danger and death which, as brave men, they resolved to meet. Ye children of peace can never hear it; wherefore I write of a sound that was produced by environment ye will never have. It died with the cause that produced it.

French’s dramatic death pronouncement is powerful, though perhaps too final. 
Accounts vary widely, characterizing it as “wild,” “soul-stirring,” and “deafening,” and calling it everything from “that strange fierce cry” to “a high shrill yelp, uttered without concert.” One author simply records the sounds he heard: “yi — yi — yi.”
Remnants of the rebel yell may still be heard today, in the extant recordings of veterans who recreated them. One recording, of Charlotte, North Carolina, native Thomas Alexander, dates to a 1935 Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting. A local radio station recorded Alexander, then ninety years old, reproducing the yell, which sounds to contemporary ears more like a series of animalistic squeals than the utterances of a warrior. Of course, Alexander’s age could have contributed to the quality of his recreation.

Another famous recording of veterans reprising the Rebel yell exists on video footage from the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Only ten thousand or so veterans remained alive, and those who were able—nearly two thousand of them—traveled to Pennsylvania to commemorate their service. The 1938 film shows veterans—some in uniform—flanking a wall on the battlefield. The former enemies reach across the stones to shake hands, and after a chorus of hellos, several voices begin to call, sounding out “Whoo!” A male voice states clearly, “That’s the rebel yell,” and the clip ends.

Of course, neither of these recordings suggests the full power or scope of the cry as it must have been heard on the battlefield. To address this omission, the Museum of the Confederacy has taken existing recordings of veterans giving the rebel yell, remastered them, and combined them to simulate the effect of larger groups of soldiers bellowing out the battle cry. One recording suggests the sound that a company of seventy men—the size of the 11th Alabama— would have made. Others increase the numbers of recordings copied, offering the sounds of a regiment, a brigade, and even the full Army of Northern Virginia. While these recordings remain careful approximations, they are an innovative attempt to transport listeners back to those bitter days when men of our nation faced down one another. If you close your eyes and listen closely enough, you just might feel the April breeze wafting across the fields at Chancellorsville as the sound of your compatriots buffets your ears.
​
Additional Information
This feature was previously published in Issue 101, Summer 2011. 
To view rare footage of Civil War veterans performing the Rebel Yell, click here.

About the Author

Elizabeth Wade serves as an assistant editor of Alabama Heritage magazine. 

Subscribe to Alabama Heritage

Comments are closed.

    From the Vault

    Read complete classic articles and departments featured in Alabama Heritage magazine in the past 35 years of publishing. You'll find in-depth features along with quirky and fun departments that cover the people, places, and events that make our state great!

    Read More From the Vault

    Archives

    October 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    August 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    June 2021
    May 2021
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2015
    July 2014
    April 2014
    October 2013
    October 2012
    July 2012
    October 2009

    Categories

    All
    African Americans
    Agriculture
    Alabama
    Archeaology
    Architecture
    Avondale
    Avondale Zoo
    Birmingham
    Business
    Cathedral Caverns
    Civil War
    Constitution
    Cuba
    Episcopal Church
    Food
    Guntersville
    Hollywood
    Hunting
    Huntsville
    Murder
    Mystery
    National Guard
    Native American
    Nursing
    Photography
    Poarch Creek Indians
    Politics
    Preservation
    Quilts
    Religion
    Revolutionary War
    Sand Mountain
    Space
    Sports
    Whiskey
    Women
    WWI
    WWII

    RSS Feed

Alabama Heritage
Box 870342
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Local (205) 348-7467
Toll-Free (877) 925-2323
Alabama.Heritage@ua.edu
Home
About
Shop
​Books​
Recipes
​Videos
FAQ
UA Privacy Policy
​UA Disclaimer