The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-03-18
ORIGIN OF THE WAR CRY.
Egyptians Shouted tho Kings Name antl
Routed the Eneanv


Routed the Enemy.
The war cry no doubt originated when
men first began to fight in bodies and
sought to encourage each other by their
shouts. 1t is thus of prehistoric date
for the earliest records mention it as al
ready well known when they were writ
ten: One of the. earliest Egyptian in
scriptions' made by King long ante
victory won by his army. "And when
gave the signal, my soldiers shouted their
shout, calling on my name and the name
of my god with q loud voice, and drove
the enemy before them. Like sheep they
fled, like lambs in the presence of a wolf
they became when they heard the war
shout of my host and the name of my
god" This bit Of naturalism is extreme
ly curious since it shows not only the
antiquity of the war cry, but also the
antiquity of the practice common in much
later days of using the name of the lead
er as we'll as of the national deity as a
shout of encouragement in battle. After
the Jews invaded Canaan and besieged
Jericho, they were directed to compass
that city six successive days in silence,
and in the seventh day they were to
shout their war cry, which was, without
doubt, the name of the deity, and this is
the first recorded instance in their his
tory of the use of a war cry, though it
had, no doubt, been frequently before
employed. At later date, when the
Jewish judges We're ably upholding the
| arms of the chosen people against the
surrounding nations, there is mention
made of definite expression used, so
far as known, in only one battle. 1t was
when the Midianites pitched by the Hill
| or Moreb, and, to use the graphic Ian
guage of the annalist, "all the children of
the East lay along in the valley like
rryO cchn for milf f,,1n
having, by successive siftings, reduced
| the number of his men to 300, made
ready for night attack, gave each an
earthen jar and TORCH divided the little
party into three squads and approached
the camp from three directions. At an
appointed signal the trumpets were
blown, the jars broken. the lights famed
of the Lord and of Gideon"
'The sword of the Lord and David
| was a famous rallying cry among the
Jews during the lifetime of their most
| famous King and for ages afterward.
| Jehoshaphat had war cry of his own,
in one of his greatest wars, that against
Ammon and Moab. 1t was, Praise the
Lord, for his mercy endureth forever -
Too long for modern use in its translated
form. in the Hebrew it has curtness of
sound that renders this expression ex-
ceedingly appropriate. ''The sword OF
the Messiah was the despairing shout
of the unfortunate Jews when the Tenth
legion, Caesars own, had pitched it's CAM
ON the Mount of Olives and Vespasiar
prove. in it's results. one of the most tire.
mendous events of history. The besiegers
of the City of David had also their wal
| cries, it being a common practice among
Roman leaders on the eve Of an engage
ment to give oiit rallying word; which
during the battle; was used as cry. This
was in accordance with d usage formerly
ander the Great gave out Il word, gener.
ally the name of Il god. before every bat.
tie, and one historian attributes no small
share of the cUnuuefor's success to his
skill in selecting cries that inspired enthu
siasm among the men. Caesar was equal
ly happy in this particular. he always
gave out lucky wordn At the battle OF
Pharsalia. which decided the fate of the
Roman republic, Pompey selected for q
war cry. Hercules Invictus" while
Caesar told his men to cry "Venus Vic,
triX!' The latter proved to have the
greater inspiration, Venus triumphed over
Hercules. Caesar over Pompey. The bat.
| tie, had the outcome been different. would
have decided nothing but that Pompey
| instead of Caesar was the dictator OF
Rome.
! After the spread of Christianity ove1
Europe. various religious and devotiona
expressions began to be employed to en-
courage the soldiery in the day Of battle
| One, of the favorite cries was ssHallelu
| jah!' Hebrew expression signifyine
''Praise We the Lord" From it's sonor
BUSINESS as we'll as the idea of exultato1
it conveys, this came into wide employ
ment, and, according to the British le
gends, a notable victory was won Will
it's aid by the Christian Britons over thu
| Picts and Scots, or some say the Saxons
at Mold, in Flintshire. The legions had
| been withdrawn from the island for the
defense of the empire against the Cloths
| but one account says force was sent
back to help in this campaign. Whether
the presence of the trained veterans had
| anything to do with the victory cannot be
learned from the legends. which attribut,
the entire credit to a Saint Germanus
| who is said to have led the Britons and
who shouted Hallelujah! so vigorously
| that the enemy became panic-stricken and
fled. leaving the victors nothing to do but
plumber the camp and chase the stragglers
However the result was attained. it gave
great prestige to the word as battle
cry whenever Christians were fighting
pagans, and for a couple of hundred
years it was a favorite shout. It We'd
with ''In hoe signo," which, even befor.
this time, had been adopted by Constan>
tines legions, and was only supplanted by
"Holy Rood!' which came in later and
was extremely popular both in England
and Scotland as battle-cry.