Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-06-27


great West to the cause of American
freedom i'm the rebellion against Eng
land. Before the Revolution "a handful
OF Vigginians had pushed across the Al
leghenies and built at Watauga. in what
is now Tennessee, one of the first out
posts Of American civilization in the
then unknown West lying between the
Alleghenies and the Pacific. They held
in check the $4,000 Cherokee warriors
who were melted by the English to at
tack the rebels of the seaboard in the
rear, and when these Eastern rebels
seemed hopeiessy demOralized when
CORVALLIS, with Tarleton and Ferguson
under him. had cut the confederacy in
two, "the rebel yell" was heard for the
first time east Of the mountains. 1t WAS
the accompaniment Of style OF fighting
with which the English regulars were
entirely unfamiliar-the massing of a
small force against the weakest point OF
a scattered opposing force, and then,
without regard TO the numbers OF the
opposing force, a headlong rush and the
wild charging cry which has since be-
come memorable as 1.-THE rebel yell.
When the brave Col, Ferguson re-
treated to Kings mountain and in
posed to be an impregnable position his
second in command, DuPeyster, said to
him, rs the Western men charged up the
mountain under the CALLING fire Of has
superior force: There are those yell
| ling devils again" Six hours later the
| yelling rebels from the West had won
! the battle Of Kings mountain, captured
| its Surviving defenders, and turned the
tide OF the Revolution back against
England, sending CORVALLIS in con-
| fused retreat to the surrender at York
| town.
There is no doubt at all Of the genesis
! OF the rebel yell as it was heard at
| Kings mountain. 1t was the war-cry
OF men as brave as ever died in defense
| OF homes-the Tennessee Cherokees,
whose language has made the rivers and
mountains of their OLD hunting grounds
| musical with names that are soft as
| Italian. With the possible exception OF
| the Natchez, they were the most intelll-
| gent and least cruel of North American
| Indians, holding the universal Indian
| law of retaliation, but more capable
| than any others of the Indian stock OF
| forgiving injuries.
Under Oconostata and Old Tarsel they
| made a heroic fight against the west
I ward advance of civilization, and their
battle cry was heard in defense of Ten
nessee soil at the first fight on Lookout
mountain as detiantly as at the second.
1t was turned against them 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 time most Of
the fighting against Indians had been
done from behind stockades or IN Skin
mIShng from behind trees. With a
military genus that was Napoleonic be-
fore Napoleon, Sewer adopted and never
swerved from policy of sudden attack
in the open field, always in the enemy S
country, without waiting TO reckon up
how many men the enemy could bring
against him if given time. This art of
war was defined in 1865 by the Tennes-
see cavalryman whom General Lee
called the greatest of his generals in the
! West getting there first with the most
men," Against this method Of lighting
the unframed Cherokees could do moth
ing. They fought for every foot of
territory, but always with great loss of
their own warriors, inllictinS little IN
return.
The author of the Rear Guard OF the
htNOlullOu Has no llleOIN VI lliS ONii
concerning the origin of the rebel yell.
but the facts he has collected make ii
certain enough that it was originally
the battle-cry of these Red Tennessee
ans, who called their warriors "Sons of
Fire" (Cherahkees). In all mouths but
theirs it has been a rebel yell invariably.
1t was raised by rebels at Kings noun
tain; again a few years later at Jones'
boro, where 800 Tennessee rebels as
sembled to rescue John Sewer, who had
been kidnapped by North Carolina and
carried across the mountains to be tried
for treason as the head Of the Tennessee
rebellion against North Carolina: it was
rebel cry at the Alama and San Jacin-
70; later on it was heard again at Shiloh
and Chicamauga from the threats OF
Tenuesseeans who rebelled against Ten
nesSee for the Union, and of other Ten.
nesseeans who rebelled against the
Union for Tennessee.
Il is in accord with eternal fitness that
the rebel war cry should trace its origin
TO Tennessee-which above all others is
the rebel State-the only State of the
second rebellious confederacy which
waived all discussion OF the constitu-
tonal rights of secession and, standing
squarely on its rebellious record against
England and North Carolina, rebelled
out of the Union instead OF seceeding
out of it.