Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1904-12-30
THE ARMY YELL.
How the Soldiers Took Up the GSg,'
Until the Whole Army Was
Involved.

1t is hardly necessary to explain, and
| could not do it if l wanted to, how
the simple matter of yelling or halloo-
ing grew to be Of such gigantic proper
tions and with what wonderful rapidity
these simple things spread. Start a rab-
bit, and one yell meant yell from
everyone in the regiment, and that
meant brigade yell, and so on, until
the whole army rapidly took up the con-
tagion. Soldiers never stopped to in
quire what it meant; they didn't care;
they heard the yell far away, faint at
first, gradually swelling toward them
until, like a huge wave a terrific
cyclone, it swept past to die away in
the far-away tlanks of the army.
During the spring of 1864, when we
were retiring from the Knoxville cam
paign to our position near Chattanoo-
ga, an old friend of mine of the
Eighty-sixth Indiana passed me, and 1
merely remarked: How are you,
Tom?" That was followed by How are
you, Tom" from the balance of the
company, then by the regiment. The
brigade and division took it up and
probably before that How are you,
| Tom" died away two-thirds of Thomas
| old third division had paid that courtesy
| to Tom.
But the grandest and most enthusias-
| tic yelling | ever heard was when the
army lay around Atlanta after its cap
ture Away toward Atlanta we heard the
yell coming closer and louder, and in
stinctively It seemed that the soldiers
knew something of unusual Importance
had occurred and they yelled louder and
with great spirit. 1t was probably an
hour thereafter that news from Sher-
mans headquarters reached us of Sheri-
dams splendid victories in the Shenan-
doah.
Toward nightfall, or even when very
dark, whilst weary and foot sore from
tedious marching, yell coming along
the road from toward the front meant
going into camp ahead, but how far
ahead depended whether you were very
far in the rear of the army or not. IL
you were, you were probably consider
able distance from camp.
Whilst the picket lines were within
less than hundred yards of each other
before Atlanta, in July, 1864 our pickets,
by way of demonstration, were required
to make almost daily charges upon the
rifle pits of the enemy. Sometimes we
captured several prisoners, and usually
held the rifle pits until the reserves
drove us out again. During these
charges, of course, the usual yell accom-
panied. One day the spasmodic and un-
accountable army yell was passing
r around, and, of course, was taken up
e by the pickets The rebel pickets, think
ing 1t meant the daily charge, pulled
e out and ran for the works behind. See
e ing that they had been victims of a
d huge joke, one by one you could see
e them slipping back into their holes ant
resuming hostile positions This pickle
# yelling was reduced to considerabl,
II system by the piciets themselves.
l remember that the day of the Peacl
l. Tree Creek battle our division was ava,
around to the left, and just before sun
r down our pickets became hotly engaged
and after seeing they were in for it fo
N awhile they began firing with seemin;
e, preconcerted action from the left, ant
as the last one fired to the right yol
20 could hear simultaneous yell, then tn
r firing by file again, and so on until dark
Hundreds of incidents of the army yell
he might be given, but they are too famil
It, lar to be of interest-C. A. Brasher, il
n American Tribune.