The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1889-03-23
THE REBEL YELL.
Was Originally the Dattle.Cry OF shc
M@ Tennessee CheroEees.

This Is clearly a mistake, based OF
tnsudicient infofanation. The yell ws'
heard In the Texan var for indepen
dence. It came clear and strong lrou
the thrOats of the men who followed
Houston at San Jacinto, but that waa
luot its genesis by any means. The
Texans OF that day were sll, or nearly
all, natives 0f other western statss, and
their war cry was, q part OF their equip
ment they carried to Texas with them
All the reliable evidence shows thai
the rebsl yell was q contribution Of the
Great West to the cause OF American
freedon 10 the rebellion against Eug-
land. Before the rebellion a handful
lot Virgtnians had pushed across the
Alleghanies and built At Wautags, Ia
what 10 now Tennessee, one otstAo first
|o0tposis Of Anelloaaic clviiizatloa Ia the
then uuknown west lying between the
Alleghanles and the Pacific. They held
In check the 5000 Cherokee warriors
who were iInclted BY the Eoelish 70 It.
tack tho rebels Of the tseaboard In the
rear, and when, the eastern robsls seem
ed hopelessly demoralized, when Corn
wallis, with Tsrieton aud Ferguson un-
der him, had cut the confederacy In
two, ssthe rebel yell" was heard for the
tirss timo east of the mouotaius. II was
the accompaniment of q styio Of fight.
ing with which the English regulars
were entirely unfamlliar-the Masslng
'of . small force against the weakest
pofut OF . scattered opposing force, and
then, without regard to the number OF
the opposing force, headlong rush
and the Wild charging cry which hes
siuce become mem Orable as Nth0 rebel
yeil.'' 2''a sfsJsS4 = 'Hf't'-1 '.'s'n7l'
ic When the brave Colonel Ferguson
.retrested to, Ktue's m0uotA ain and 70.
trenched himself there in what he sup-
posed to be an impregnable position,
his Second In command, Du Peyster,
said TO him, as the western men chang.
ed up the mountain under the Calling
6re Of his superior force {; "Thers are
those yelling devils sgain."
Six hours later ths yelling rebels
from tho west had won the battle of
King's Mountain. captured its surviv.
log defenders, aud turned the tide OF
the revolution back sgaiast England,
sending Cornwajlis in confused retreat
to the surrender at Yorktown.
Z. There Is no doubt at all OF the genesis
of the rebel yell rs II was heard at
Kings Mountain. 1t was the war cry
Of men AS brave rs ever died in defense
Of hoInes-:he Tennessee Cherokees,
whose language has made the rivers
aud mountains Of their old hunting
grounds musical with names that are
as soft as Italian. ..ti, ~ ls.f.iu. .4.r I
With the possible exception of the
NatcheH, they were the most intelli.
gent and least cruel Of North American
Indians, holding the universal Indian
law of retaliation, but moro capable
than any others Of the Indian stock
Of forg!vfng injuries. .......,.. ....... +
Under OconOstatc aud Old Tarsel
they made a heroic fight against the
westward advance Of civiiiza atiOu, and
their battle-cry was heard In defense Of
Tennessee soil al tho first fight on Look
out mountain rs deilanily as at the Sec
ond. 1t was turned against thom by
the white Tennesseeans who followed
John Sewer In over hundred fights
with them, In every one Of which the
Cherokees were losers. Before Sewers
tiins most Of the fighting against In
dians had been done from behind
or in skirm'shing from be-
hind trees. 81.
With q military genius that was Ma
poleonic before Napoleon, Sewer adopt
ed and never swerved from policy OF
sudden attack in the open Held, always'
in the enemy's country, without walt
ing to reckon up how many men tho
enemy could bring against him II CIV
en- time.
This art of war was defined In 1865
by the Tennessee cavalrymsp, whom
General Lee called the greatest Of his
generals In the west, "gettios there
frs; with the most men." Against this
method Of fighting tho unframed Cher
okees could do nothing. They fought
for every foot Of territory, but always
with great loss OF their own warriors,
ipfitcttng little in return.
The author Of tho "Rsar Guard Of The
Revolution" has no theory OF his own
concerning the origin OF the rebel yell,
but the facts he has collected make II
certain enough that 1t was originally
the battle cry OF those Red Tennessee
ans, who called their warriors "Sons OF
Fire. (Cherahkees). In all mouths but
theirs II has been rebel yell invaria-
bly,.
1t was raised by rebels at king,
Mountain again few weeks later al
Jonesboro, where 1900 Tennessee rebels
assembled to rescue John Sevier, wht
had been kidnapped by North Carolin,
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