The National tribune., 1910-06-16

when the contest was between the
Crescent and the Cross the Knights
Templars had a banner of white and
black they called 'Beauscant.' which
was also said to be their terrible war
cry If war cries were not distinguish
able. it would hardly be worth while
adopting them. War cries were once
universal; tho generally short, they
sometimes included n whole sentence.
''Savages have been noted for their
cries in preparing for the charge. and
the trained scout could easily distin-
guish to what tribe they belonged. Cesar
speaks of the war cries of the Gauls.
the BritonS and the Germans. The
shouts of the Huns, the GothS and the
VandalS were described as terrible. 1t
is said the war cry was more generally
adopted in Scotland than anywhere else
in Europe, from the fact the clans
when gathering for a struggle would
agree upon some place of meeting and
the name of the place became the war
cry. Sometimes the war cry was the
name of a leader.
with the advent of gunpowder sys
TENS of warfare changed, and the bat
tie cry became a motto. such as Re-
member the Alamo the cry of the Tex
ans when fighting for their liberty from
Mexico, and Remember the Maine in
our late war with Spain.
Such war cries. however, are too
long to utter when on a charge, and
every effort is exhausting the much
needed strength; consequently each
regiment uttered cry, the most nat
ural of its environments when at home.
This is entirely different from the cheer
of victory at the close of battle. This
would be far more likely to be mistak-
en-, one for the other, than would the
cry of charging parties.
TT is said that up to very short
tfr,o4 ~ trny nl flnyr
thru England without meeting with
people of many dialects, and those Of
one dialect could hardly understand
those of another, and the old comrades
will remember how astonished we were
to find such a difference in the Ian
guage and ways of the boys of the diff
ferent States We pronounced Mich
igan 'Mish-i-gan;' the Eastern boys
pronounced it 'Mitchi-gan.' We called
frying pan a spider; they called it a
skillet, while a skillet to us was a three
legged kettle; and so / might go on to
illustrate at length. Where SO much
difference in expressions existed, is it
not natural there would be a distin-
guishable difference in d war cry?
Il will here quote q short article
some years ago clipped from the New
York Globe-Democrat, entitled:
Like Lucifer Let LoOse-The FerociOus
War Cry of MichiSan's Soldiers.
81 learned during the civil war to
tell what section of the country a regi-
ment was from by hearing it cheer
said Col. Sol Hilligoss. of course, it
was easy enough to distinguish the wild
rebel yelP' from the deep-toned cheer
of the Northern legions, but each of
these had well-defined variations.
Draw line from Boston to San Fran
cisco, from that city thru st. Louis to
Richmond, Va, and from the latter
whole gamut of the American battle
North to the shrill treble of the ex-
treme South The war cry of the West
is a compromise between the deep
chested Yankee cheer and the thrilling
rebel yell. 1t more nearly resembles
the awful war whoop of the Sioux than
anything else l can think of, and is ap-
| palling in its intensity and ferocity. The
cheer of Maine regiment makes you
think of the old Morse sea kings. 1t
rolls and reverberates like a salvO of
artillery. A Virginia regiment does not
cheer; 1t does not shrek. Its war cry
Is the short, sharp, terrifying growl of
the bulldog before he closes his iron
jaws on the throat of an enemy. The
yell of a Louisiana regiment strikes the
ear like the scream of a panther or
the shrek of a shell, but when an Iowa
or Michigan regiment gives tongue you
think that the portals Of hell have been
forced-that Lucifer and all his attend
ant horrors are loose upon the land.
1t is the incarnation of ferocity, the
apotheosis of terror"