It is one of the most legendary sounds ever produced by the human throat. It may have been heard by Caesar's legionaries during their campaigns in Gaul around 50 B.C.; English knights mentioned hearing something that may have been similar when Robert the Bruce's Scots charged at Bannockburn in 1314 and there are accounts of highpitched shouts when the wild Tennessee frontiersmen attacked at King's Mountain in 1780. Others say, more prosaically, that it was taken from the plaintive cry of a lovesick wolf or was first heard when a clumsy private dropped a cannonball on his foot. By now, you are probably complaining, "What is he talking about?", "Why is he telling me all this?" and, "This doesn't look like an article on WRG Rules!" What we're discussing is, of course, the possible lineage of the "Rebel Yell" of Civil War (also "The War Between the States" or "THE WAR, Suh!" below the Mason-Dixon line) fame. Since crazed gamers who command the gray in various wargames have been known to produce the most unusual noises in the midst of such contests, it seems appropriate to include a short study of this important subject in a wargames magazine. Although there were cranky old spoilsports who claimed that they never heard it on many a stricken field, they may just have been shirkers who missed most of the fun in our nation's premier bloodletting. The "Rebel Yell" is reliably reported as being used not only during the shooting but on numerous occasions after the late unpleasantness the James and Younger boys are reputed to have used it while hightailing it out of town during bank robberies,' cowboys on a spree would raise the roofs of Abilene and Dodge City, "Fighting Joe" Wheeler, a former Confederate general, may have given the cry while leading his cavalry division in Cuba in 1898 (Wheeler, who was terminally confused, kept referring to the Spanish as "damn yankees") and any gathering of former Confederate soldiers could be counted on to let loose after a few drinks. In short, the "Rebel Yell" was such a fine old southern tradition during the latter part of the Nineteenth Century that no one gave it a second thought. Unfortunately, time passed and people started to forget... At the 50th and 75th anniversary reunions and encampments at Gettysburg in 1913 and 1938, eager young reporters pressed former Confederates to give their expert massed rendition but ancient lungs were not up to the effort, as even the disappointed old soldiers admitted. They reflected that it was really a young man's cry and the old resonance was gone. Union vets admitted that it was "chilling" and unforgettable but they could not reproduce it and so took their memories to their graves with them. Finally, in 1949, Frank Tolbert, the Texas historian, sought out the illusive sound in interviews with the last four surviving Texas veterans. The first three were no help, but 103-year-old Merrill Raney was more enlightening. While yarning about his part in the Battle of Murfreesboro, the old soldier grew more intense as he slipped back into his distant youth, describing with great emotion the shooting, the burning undergrowth, the smoke, the surging battleflags and, finally, his unit's charge. At this point, Raney suddenly reared back and produced a sound which Tolbert described as, "... like an opera singer hitting almost impossible high notes... as if a mountain lion and a coyote were crying in chorus," Delighted, Tolbert got his tape recorder to preserve an authentic "Rebel Yell" for posterity but discovered that the machine was useless as the farmhouse had no electricity. Tolbert left, promising to come back later with a battery hookup for the recorder. On returning a few days later, Tolbert was met by Raney's son who informed him that his father had died in the interim. Tolbert's was the last attempt to save this exquisite sound and the last Civil War veterans passed from the scene in the 50s. What is often described as a "Rebel Yell" can still split the air at rowdy football games throughout Dixie but, unless we consider it to be an inherited characteristic, like the Hapsburg lip, there is no way to check the noisy ones' bona fides. The original "Rebel Yell" has been lost to the memory of man and no one living today can say with certainty exactly how it sounded. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VII #5 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com