"Sensing his advantage, Beauregard ordered a counterattack all along the line.
As Confederate units surged forward a strange, eerie scream rent the air .Soon
to be known as the rebel yell, this unearthly wail struck fear into the hearts
of the enemy, then and later. 'There is nothing like it on this side of the
infernal region,' recalled a northern veteran after the war. 'The peculiar
corkscrew sensation that it sends down your backbone under these circumstances
can never be told. You have to feel it.' Startled by this screaming
counterattack the discouraged and exhausted Yankee soldiers, their three-month
term almost up, suddenly decided they had fought enough. They began to fall
back, slowly and with scattered resistance at first, but with increasing panic
as their officers lost control, men became separated from their companies, and
the last shred of discipline disappeared. The retreat became a rout as men threw
away their guns, packs, and anything else that might slow them down in the wild
scramble for the crossings of Bull Run."
James McPherson (anti-Southern writer)
The Rebel Yell
A legend of the Civil War, the rebel yell drifts farther back into the mists of
time as new history unfolds. It is something that sparks the imagination for
that is the only place in which it can live. Our visual sense is satisfied in
libraries and museums when we see the pictures of the soldiers and sailors of
the Civil War. We can see the Matthew Brady photos of the carnage on the
battlefields after the last shots had been fired and we can see the written
words in the letters of the soldiers to home telling of life in the service of
their cause. These are direct links to history.
But the auditory senses are limited. Yes, we can hear drums and bugles today and
we can even hear some young man playfully give off with a simulated rebel yell.
Our imaginations can play with the sounds but that’s what it is, playing with
the sound.
What is missing for the Civil War student is the auditory link to history. One
of the few is the rebel yell of 92 year old Thomas N. Alexander of the 37th
North Carolina Regiment. Although Mr. Alexander was 92 when he recorded the yell
for radio station WBT, Charlotte, NC in 1935,he was at Gaines’ Mill where he
undoubtedly used it. Mr. Alexander was a direct link to history and his recorded
rebel yell certainly is that.
History Publishing Company, in an attempt to capture some of that period has
used modern technology to simulate the sound of a charging body of Confederate
troops. It must be remembered that a body of troops consisted of a considerable
number of individuals with different voices and resonances. Add to those
factors, passion, excitement and fear and there could not have been one sound.
There had to be variations.
This simulation is based on one actual Confederate veteran whose voice, as a
youth, sounded out the famous rebel yell that unnerved more than a few Union
troops.
http://www.26nc.org/history/rebel-yell/sound
The following information is correct and was enacted in 1958, and gives
Confederate Veterans the same rights as any American Veteran. This would be
useful in the argument that anyone who is denying monuments, flags, marching in
parades in Confederate uniforms, etc, is denying this activity to those who have
the same rights as any American.
Documentation of legislation giving Confederates the same rights as any US
serviceman: The complete act can be found in the United States Statutes At Large
(passed by the 85th Congress in 1958) part 1, volume 72, pages 133-134, and is
know as Public Law 85-425.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled,
Section 432 (e)
"For the purpose of this section, and section 433, the term ' veteran' includes
a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of
America during the Civil War, and the term 'active, military or naval service'
includes active service in such forces."
Section 410
"The Administrator shall pay to each person who served in the military or naval
forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War a monthly
pension in the same amounts and subject to the same conditions as would have
been applicable to such person under the laws in effect on December 31, 1957, if
his service in such forces had been service in the military or naval service of
the United States."
Section 2
This Act shall be effective from the first day of the second calendar month
following its enactment.
Approved May 23, 1958.
Southern Humor
The battle of Stone Mountain in Georgia
It is little known that Sherman, when arriving at the front to see what
was holding up his march to the sea, found a Confederate on top of
Stone Mountain waving signal flags and hurling curses at the enemy
below. He immediately ordered his adjutant to sent his best man up that
mountain to "throw that Reb off of it."
Up went Sgt. McGurk, an 8'-2" Irishman, after "the reb." After a slight
lull in the signaling, a loud "thump" was heard at the base of the
mountain. There laid McGurk, never to move an inch more to the sea.
Sherman then ordered the best 10 men in the regiment to clear that "no
good murdering, signaling and shouting Reb" off of 'his" mountain.
Up went the 10 Yankees, armed with swords, bayonets, revolvers and
rifles. Again the signaling and shouting paused. A few minutes later,
another 10 blue clothed Yankees bounced one by one down the mountain.
Never would they taste the salt of the ocean.
Well Sherman was really steamed! He then sent 150 handpicked soldiers
up the mountain. This time they took an howitzer with them in addition
to every small arm available. The signaling hardly paused before the
figures of 149 troopers were seen to be caroming down from the
mountain. The 150th soldier limped back down the mountain, bloodied,
weak and near to breathing his last. Sherman rushed over to him,
dismounted, and put his ear to the soldier's mouth to catch his words.
The soldiers words were " Go around the mountain, General, it's a trap.
There are two of them up there!"
A seldom told story about the Battle of Stone Mountain in Georgia
as found in the July 1865 issue of Reader's Digest.
Before you attack the Confederate soldiers' Battleflag, see how Old Glory will
compare: http://www.vdare.com/fallon/confederate.htm
The Confederate Flag and the United States Flag are judged by different
standards and criteria, and are not held to the same levels of accountability.
In analytical science and weights and measures, comparisons are made against
known standards. However, in politics comparisons are never made in a fair and
impartial manner.
In order to understand the hypocrisy, ignorance, and bias that have been
directed against the Confederate Flag, it is necessary to use the U.S. Flag
(Stars and Stripes) as a standard of comparison. The purpose of this comparison
is not to berate or disparage the U.S. Flag, but is to prove that the
Confederate Flag has received unfair and unequal treatment.
The genocide and racial cleansing of the American Indians took place under the
U.S. Flag. Their land was taken without fair and just compensation. Indians died
by the thousands as they were forced on to reservations and subjected to
starvation and deadly diseases. The Trail of Tears endured by the Cherokee is an
example. In the American West, cavalry troopers murdered entire villages
including babies in their mother's arms.
The U.S. Flag Flew over an unconstitutional and criminal war conducted against
The Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln Conducted this war for the
benefit of wealthy Northern industrialists. Atrocities against Southern
civilians and military are listed in the book, The Uncivil War: Union Army and
Navy Excesses in the Official Records.
Furthermore, slaves were imported from Africa to America primarily by five
Northern States: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode
Island. The Confederate Flag was not involved in the importation of slaves.
Finally, the U.S. Flag flies over a nation that has murdered an estimated 42
million babies by abortion. Confederate leaders would never have voted for
abortion or nominated judges that would legalize abortion.
Political Correctness has been used to attempt bans of The Confederate Flag from
schools, parades, public and private property, and even historical monuments and
sites.
The Confederate flag represents Constitutional Limited Federal Government,
States Rights, Resistance to Government Tyranny, and Christian Values and
Principles. To say that it represents racism and bigotry is a negative and
shallow interpretation comparable to saying the U.S. flag represents the
genocide of the American Indians and abortion. James W. King