From "The Rebel's Yell," Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division

Ever since the Civil War ended, writers have struggled to adequately describe the Rebel Yell.

For the first time at Manassas or Bull Run in 1861, and then at many battlefields afterward, the bluecoats heard the unearthly wail of the rebel yell.

“When we got in sight of the Yankees,” Thomas D. Wallace, a member of the 13th Mississippi Infantry and a comrade of Francis M. Poore, recorded in his diary, “we raised a yell that Indians could not have raised.”

At Gettysburg in 1863, as 1,400 Mississippians stepped toward Emmitsburg Road, the Rebel Yell went up and down the ranks. Across the field, Union 2nd Lieutenant Frank E. Moran of the 73rd New York Infantry, known as the 2nd Fire Zouaves, observed the Mississippians. He recalled that they “came swarming up from the woods, yelling like demons.”

Thanks to the Smithsonian.com we can hear the old Rebel Yell. The Smithsonian last October posted some rare audio and video footage of Union and Confederate veterans. Among the footage was an exclusive clip from the 1930s where Confederate veterans step up to the mic and let out their version of the fearsome rallying cry.

You can watch the video on the Smithsonian site or on YouTube.

Confederate pension check for the widow of William B. Poore

Finding direct evidence of William Billy Poore’s service in the Confederate army proved to be a lot harder than for his two older brothers, Francis Marion Poore and John F. Poore. Enlistment and muster records exist for Francis and John but not for William.

The lack of official service records, such as muster rolls, is not unusual. Confederate officials deliberately destroyed many records to avoid their falling into enemy hands. Further, untold records burned in the fire that broke out in Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, on April 3, 1865.

Indirect evidence of William’s service comes from the pension his widow Emily applied for after his death in 1913. The application also shows why such records have to be used with care and why the facts have to be double-checked.

Clearly someone, perhaps a pension official, helped Emily to fill out her pension forms because there are historical errors in the information. For example, in response to the question about who commanded William’s company the answer given was “Capt. J. J. Shannon.” James J. Shannon did command the Jasper Grays until he resigned because of poor health on December 20, 1862. But, according to the same form and William’s Confederate grave registration, William didn’t enlist until April 7 or 9, 1863. So Shannon couldn’t have been William’s commander at the time he was in the 16th Mississippi.

Another way to confirm Civil War service is through the 1910 U.S. Census. Census takers marked if a person was a veteran and a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy.

For William, I also turned to a “List of Confederate Veterans of Jasper County,” Source Material for Mississippi History, Preliminary Manuscript, Jasper County Vol. XXXI, (Works Progress Administration for Mississippi, 1935). This list is another indirect source because it was compiled more than 20 years after William’s death.

What records have you turned to trace your ancestor’s Civil War service?

The expanding number of records to be found on the Internet is making it easier than ever for family historians to trace their ancestors. Checking these records also can help confirm the accuracy of family lore.

A story handed down through Francis Marion Poore’s family holds that after Francis left Mississippi in 1870, he never saw his younger brother William again, except for a chance encounter around 1910. The meeting occurred at one of the United Confederate Veterans’ picnics in Arkansas that Francis often attended. As told, the story says Francis went to fill a pitcher from a park water pump and there stood William.

A check of reunion dates and places for the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) made it seem likely that this brotherly reunion, if it did happen, actually occurred in Little Rock on May 16-18, 1911. That was when Little Rock served as host for the 21st annual UCV Reunion. The reunion drew more than 140,000 people, including about 12,000 veterans, making it the largest event in Little Rock history. And Francis lived in Pulaski County just outside Little Rock.

Still Little Rock was a long way from William’s farmhouse in Jasper County, Mississippi.

Fortunately, registration forms for the reunion still exist. They can be found on a database of the Arkansas History Commission.

A search of the database turned up a registration form not only for William, but also for brother John F. Poore. A third registration form with a badly misspelled is probably for Francis. All three brothers had been present at the reunion.

More than likely this brotherly reunion at the UCV gathering had been planned rather than being accidental. But Francis may have met up with his brother at the event as he went to fetch the pitcher of water.

William’s registration forms do create a new mystery. One form states William was in Chatman’s Mississippi Company. Another states he was in Chatman’s Regiment. Companies usually carried the name of the commander and regiments were numbered. The name Chatman has not been found for either a company or a regiment. More research of records on the Internet my yet solve this mystery, too.

Perhaps it was a matter of timing. There may have been no recruiter for Newton County outfits at the time John decided to enlist. Maybe John had a number of buddies who all wanted to enlist at the same time and they headed for Garlandsville. The muster rolls of the other members of the company might reveal a clue as to whether that speculation is true.

Garlandsville also was an important marketing town in the region. It had served as a major trading center for the Choctaw Nation and received its name from an inn operated in the house owned by John Garland, who was half Indian. A stagecoach relay station located at the inn in the early American period and the crossroads town grew to one of the largest north of Mobile. The Poore family no doubt traveled to Garlandsville many times on market Saturdays for some horse trading. John may have considered it the best place to go to enlist.

By the start of the start of the Civil War, Garlandsville was a town in decline. The Southern Railroad had extended its line from Vicksburg into the newly built town of Newton, eight miles to the north, and then into Meridian. This route bypassed Garlandsville. Businesses had started to move to either Newton or Meridian. At any rate, a simple entry on a muster roll gives us many avenues to research and write about.

Confederate winter quarters, Manassas, Virginia. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, reproduction number, LC-B811-1045B.

Armies during the Civil War didn’t usually fight in the winter. Cold rain and snow made it too hard for men and equipment to move. So both blue and gray soldiers built winter quarters. Francis Marion Poore was the only one of the three Poore brothers in the rebel army in the winter of 1861-62. Outside of Leesburg, Virginia, Francis and his comrades built small cabins, like the ones in the photo to the left, from a few runs of logs stacked on stones. If they could get enough sawn timber, they built roofs. Otherwise, they topped the cabins with tents draped over a center pole to make a roof. The men heated these crude affairs with chimneys built of sticks and mud. According to John Heiser of the Gettysburg National Military Park, “Soldiers often named their winter huts after well-known hotels or restaurants back home such as ‘Wiltshire Hotel’ or ‘Madigan’s Oyster House.’” But many of Southerners slept under nothing more than tents made of blankets.