Battle cries

[Fisherking]

Here's a clip of veterans at the 75th Gettysburg anniversary in 1938 demonstrating the Rebel Yell...

rest of anniversary page

From Dickson's excellent eye witness account of the Scots Greys at Waterloo -

"All of us were greatly excited, and began crying, 'Hurrah, Ninety-Second! Scotland for ever!' as we crossed the road."

... "They were all Gordons, and as we passed through them they shouted, 'Go at them, the Greys! Scotland for ever!'

It is tough! There are so many descriptions of it , and most of them differ.

There is everything from a Rabbit’s Scream to a Comanche War Whoop and a hundred other descriptions along the way.

I’m thinking that every Division and perhaps even Regiments had a different yell but all to gather were just known by the collective name.

The one you site sounds like a high pitched yahoo followed by a couple of wolfs cries. That fits some descriptions but by no means all of them. I have heard that it was a panther scream also. Not exactly something everyone can do without a lot of practice.

[Ghost of Rom]

William Howard Russell, war correspondent for The Times describes the rebel yell as follows: “..the Southern soldiers cannot cheer, and what passes muster for that jubilant sound is a shrill ringing scream with a touch of the Indian war-whoop in it.”

Not surprising as the most of the early colonials officers with experience were veteran Indian fighters.