The Rebel Yell Lives: Part II - Reenactors Charge Forward

[StAraqiel]

4:14 "Boys, fetch me my brown pants!"

[superiorelephant]

That's the same chill that enemies facing the Maori battalions in Greece,Crete,North Africa and Italy got when hearing the "Haka" . Gives me the chills when we Aussies play cricket or rugby against them! I truly admire the Confederates except for their stand on slavery which is unpardonable, but we of the British Empire didn't act so nobley at that period of history either.

[PooPoo2U]

@superiorelephant: The only reason you find it unpardonable is the benefit of hindsight. At the time it wasn't just pardoned, it was the standard practice. Slavery is nothing to be shamed over because slavery has been practiced by all races for all different reasons. No race or country has clean hands in that race.

[slygi4]

It is true that a LOT of the renactors are fat. But, a quick search on the internet told me that between 16% and 33% of children and adolescents are obese. So, people are just shaped different today. After all they are renactors, not soldiers.

[EpicEarthComix]

problem with how ACW reenactors' look: they are - in general - always too fat, and/or old and/or clean to be ACW soldiers on campaign. Just saying. Always looks wrong to me. Soooo many fat guys.

[groovy162]

damn that is good

[AJ78910]

There is newly discovered footage of several actual Confederate veterans performing the rebel yell. It's on the Smithsonian's channel. Type "Rare Footage of Civil War Veterans Doing the Rebel Yell" into the search bar to see it.

[Defcon458]

This rebel yell is wrong! He's thinking into it way too hard.

[bluegrassreb1]

incredible video!! tk u

[Kroniedon]

This is why Northerners shouldn't try to teach the Rebel Yell. This yell is wrong. The real yell is not so much a yell, its actually more of a whoop, much like an Indian war whoop. As for people saying it hasn't been heard in 150 years, this is also completely false. It's used quite a bit here in the south still. Mainly for animal herding. =P

[Bigmoonproductions]

@Kroniedon, So you know exactly how it sounds? Would you like to demonstrate? Where are your sources?

[Defcon458]

@Bigmoonproductions Our sources are FROM THE SOUTH, passed down for generations. And Kroniedon is right, this is NOT a very good rebel yell.

[AUG351]

@MrWileyk Its based of research, when you read many accounts of Union soldiers hearing the yell, theres different yells from different accounts like some say it sounds like ‘Woh-who-ey! who-ey! and others say it just sounds like a loud shrieking sound, and some say it sounds like Native American type of battle yells. It really depends on what Brigade or regiment.

[logibear64]

@MrWileyk dude do you have the MOC's CD? They have actual recordings of two different confederate veterans living in two different regions of the country giving the rebel yell in the early 1930's. They are identical.

[mecallahan1]

@MrWileyk I would not call him a joke, sounds like he has done some research on the subject.

besides, you got to remember that the old Confederate Soldier in the Gettysburg reunion video

was at least 80 years old, maybe he don't remember so good. There could be different versions

of the yell. I could see the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee and Army of

Mississippi all having their own version of the yell.

[sakonaga1]

very intimidating

[jcksnghst]

lol now looks like there have been two come by. "The peculiar cork-screw sensation that went up your backbone when you heard it. And if you claimed to have heard it and weren't scared...then that means you never heard it" >union soldier on the rebel yell :)

[seth15100]

well done.

[seth15100]

modern day soilders would turn and run

[brawleybarnburners75]

I treated the Iraqis to the rebel yell.

[123zwiebel]

rebel yell.sound of freedom.god bless the good old south.best wishes from germany

[vze3jnhz]

Somewhere in this house I have a Commission To Chaplain William Reeves in the 16th Mississippi Regiment... He was my fathers great grand father. My grandfather would give that yell in the early morning to greet his farmer neighbors, and they would yell back, in Carbon, Texas.Your recording gave my sister and I chills and old memories.

[thomas44329]

Very nice!

[JozefKPilsudski]

One pissed off Yankee watched this video!

[JoinorDie1989]

@JozefKPilsudski Make it Two.

[SmokeyHickChick]

@JozefKPilsudski That pissed off Yankee went and got his friend too. Oh look! Make a comment reply and the Bonnie Blue Flag will show up under your text box! Funny though. For some odd reason it has "Comments may be held for uploader approval" next to it. Hmm. Ah, I'm sure it's nothin'!

[PiotrZlot]

@JozefKPilsudski Dont mistake us Poles for Yankees ;)

[hollywoodwerewolf]

Has this caught on with other reenactment organizations? It's been 12 years since I've been in the field or at an event.

[SuperZman661]

K im a reenactor, and i love dis!

[SuperZman661]

K im a reenactor and i love dis!

[cha0scl0ud]

Holy crap I definitely got chills. Now imagine 20,000 men doing this. I mean no disrespect to modern day soldiers, but warfare is NOT the same as it was when you had to coolly march across an open field towards another standing army in order to engage them...

[cika1234]

@cha0scl0ud War is Far more impersonal today. it's lost the flair that made Humanity love it for so long.

[dcparty1901]

I got chills when hearing the men at Ceder Creek do the proper Rebel Yell...

[klangmassaker]

made my baby son cry.

[hollywoodwerewolf]

@klangmassaker the Yankees had the same reaction

[LegallyMoi]

This will realy help me improve my impression. Thanks for posting this

[redconfederate]

i was herr and i was not hearing them. i was at the left hand side of the field artillery. well thats actulky probly why.

[josded]

Sometimes as reenactors we forget we are just pretending and the effects of battle get pretty real. If they were to record the troops doing that in the heat of battle it would sound hella more spine tingly than it did here.

[knoxklay11]

i hope they got it right. it would be so awesome to not only find all the physical and tangible artifacts from this war, but the sounds too.

[GatorNate5]

and, like in this video, theres jus no emotion behind it, not a real passion, the rebel yell was supposedly sounding like a shrill fox cry, now ive always lived by the woods, and ill tell ya, if youre in the woods at night and u hear one red fox bark and cry, itll make ur blood run cold, i cant imagine the sound of thousands of men making that exact sound, itd b enough to make ur blood practically freeze lol

[Butternut731863]

@GatorNate5 I totally agree with what you said :) I remember in Ken Burns Civil War Documentary, Shelby Foote said that at a veterans gathering, a woman asked a confederate veteran to give the rebel yell, and he replied "I'm sorry, I can't do that - it can only be done at a run - and I couldn't do it anyhow with a mouth full of false teeth and a stomach full of food." And I bet you're right. You have to be desperate and starving to give it, as if it'll tip the result to victory or defeat. :)

[GatorNate5]

the sad thing is, it is lost. we will never hear that same gut renching scream, there are so many factors that go in to the actual rebel yell, such as adrenaline, then seeing ur buddies take a bullet in the head and dropping next to u, u kno death is a good possibility, and then youre charging and shooting people, youre exausted, tired, hungry, ragged, and jus ready for it to end, it will jus never be heard in all its glory ever again

[thegools]

I recall hearing that same whoop "yell" in Ken Burns last instalment of the Civil War. You can see it on you tube, where Us veterans and Convedaerate veterans are shaking hands over a wall at the 75th anniverasry of Gettesburg. I am surprised they didn't start there. I can see why it made people's blood pressure rise.

[farmall51]

The Carolina legion does it better.

[DakDarklighter]

@farmall51 The Soviet Union does it better.

[ChopstickBrando]

@DakDarklighter Huzzah!

[SpectreLance]

I just makes it that much more awesome, duh!

[hollywoodwerewolf]

the low pitched bark reminds me of 300 and Butler's Spartans.

[Jubilo1]

Interesting ! No soldier's accounts recall them being "coached," on how to give the yell. Being from different backgrounds or even Yankees or foreigners, Confederate soldiers must have "learned," the yell.