The Real Rebel Yell

The Civil War was the bloodiest conflict on American soil.  Brother against brother fought for what they believed was right for God and country, while the president fought to keep the country whole.  If a union soldier was lucky enough to make it out alive, they surely carried with them the haunting memory of what was called "The Rebel Yell."  They would regale their families and friends around the campfires with the ghost stories of a sound that came from the woods when the confederates were on the attack; a "banshee's cry," an "Indian whoop and wolf-howl" - 24,000 men strong.

A lot of experts have had to speculate as to what the rebel yell actually sounded like given the descriptions passed down from generations.  They wonder no more.

A video on Youtube has come to my attention, thanks to the wonderful people at Cracked.com.  The video has a very honest origin: realizing that the men who bled for their North/South alliances were soon to pass, documentarians in the '30s filmed old confederates recreating the rebel yell before it was lost.  Imagine laying quietly in the dark of your tent, the hard, cold ground beneath you, the smell of an extinguished campfire hanging in the air, the breeze shaking the leave the only sound... and then  that peace is instantly shattered by this: