CHARLESTON MERCURY
November 9, 1863
The Yells of Our Army.--The soldier of the Army of Northern
Virginia is essentially a yelling animal. He has a yell peculiar to himself, by which his success in
battle is denoted even at the very moment of victory. When he is pleased, he yells as an outlet for his
exuberant spirits; when he is displeased, he yells at the offending official as
an opening of the safety valve restraining his pent up passions. If he is cold, he yells in order to force his
blood into more rapid circulation; if he is too warm, he yells out the heat,
and thereby relieves his excited feelings. The history of the Confederate yell requires a skillful pen
to portray it, in all its peculiarities, so I will drop the subject by merely
noticing the latest subject for the exercise of Confederate yelling powers. Whenever a surgeon approaches a regiment, a
by-stander would think that the annual migration of all the ducks in the
universe had commenced, and that they were concentrated in that particular
spot, for the air resounds with "quack, quack, quack," and the
unfortunate quack, I beg his pardon, I mean surgeon, rides off, endeavoring to
preserve his dignity as best he can.--Army Letter.
“In an
instant every voice with one accord vigorously shouted the ‘Rebel yell,’ which
was so often heard on the field of battle. ‘Woh-who-ey! who-ey! who-ey!
Woh-who-ey! who-ey!’ etc. (The best illustration of this "true yell"
which can be given the reader is by spelling it as above, with directions to
sound the first syllable ‘who’ short and low, and the second "who"
with a very high and prolonged note deflecting upon the third syllable."
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