Whenever stories about battles of the War Between the States were told, I always heard about the Rebel Yell, and I wondered what it sounded like. My Dad, in telling tales about the battles told me that his grandpa, a Confederate veteran, said that it would bring chills up and down your spine.
At the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond there is a CD for sale with what has been determined to be an accurate rendering of the sound. To me, when I listened to it, it sounded more like a yip than a yell. I believe it to be accurate however, because on wikipedia,the sound of the Rebel Yell is described as a cross between "an Indian whoop and a wolf-howl".
Of course, almost all of these Confederate boys had been hunting foxes and coyotes all their lives, and they also knew about Indians. Could have been a mixture of these different sounds. We do know for certain that the Confederates yelled as they charged, to intimidate the enemy and bolster their own courage.
Confederate soldiers, YOU ROCK!!! Just wish there had been more of you.
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