rebel yell and yeehaw

[Garson O'Toole]

Below is the description published in 1866 of a rebel yell from the
perspective of a member of the opposing forces.

Title: Life in the army: in the departments of Virginia, and the Gulf, ...
Year: 1866
Author: J. Chandler Gregg
http://books.google.com/books?id=M4y_uRmDyI8C&q=fiendish#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
I was near enough at times to the rebel lines during these three
terrible days, to hear their unearthly, fiendish yell, such as no
other troops or civilized beings ever uttered. It was not a hearty
cheer, or hurrah, or roar, but a kind of shriek as dissonant as the
"Indian war-whoop," and more terrible
[End excerpt]

Jonathan summarized other descriptions in a message to the list in
December 2006.
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ADS-L;Ppldbg;200612041354550800A

The growth of the full-text databases might allow the construction of
a more comprehensive set of descriptions. There may have been multiple
rebel yells, and they may have changed over time.

On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 6:36 PM,  <sclements at neo.rr.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       sclements at NEO.RR.COM
> Subject:      Re: rebel yell and yeehaw
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> When we last discussed this topic in 2006, Jon Lighter said-
>
>  "And lest Sam feel like chopped liver, if "Yankee Stan" Freberg did yell "Yee-ha(w)!" in 1955 (rather than "Ya-hoo!") it was a significant moment in American life"
>
> Here's your significant moment, via youtube.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSa7W8zBOU
>
> Sam Clements
>
> ---- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> Thanks, James, for mentioning the my excruciatingly learned posts on
>> this matter.
>>
>> Update: nothing new to report, though I've kept the topic in mind.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 12:41 AM, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
>> > Subject:      rebel yell and yeehaw
>> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > I got the following comment today on my blog post on "yeehaw"
>> > (http://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/yeehaw/):
>> >
>> > ----
>> > Wrong. The reason "Yeehaw" exists in association to the West is
>> > because so many Southerners ended up there after the Civil War
>> > because their homeland had been sacked and burned and was under
>> > Federal (Yankee) occupation - home itself was not friendly territory.
>> > They probably did yell it on cattle drives; whether early Hollywood
>> > actors and writers from New York, Chicago and maybe Alberta were
>> > familiar with it is irrelevant.
>> >
>> > "Yeehah!" is the Southernism that was identified as the "Rebel Yell"
>> > which was in use since before the Civil War and was heard during the
>> > Civil War... usually delivered at the top of one's lungs. Just
>> > because you haven't observed its history doesn't mean that such
>> > history doesn't exist. I grew up in rural South Carolina and this
>> > goes back a long, long way, for generations.
>> > ----
>> >
>> > Needless to say, I think he is a little oversure of his version,
>> > although it is in its way an interesting contribution to the
>> > question. I would be glad of comment (by email or at
>> > http://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/yeehaw/) by any with
>> > pertinent knowledge -- someone a little "closer" to it might speak
>> > more authoritatively than I could.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > James Harbeck.
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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