A CONTINUING STORY!!

MORE ON THE REBEL YELL AND REMEMBERING "OLD JULEY"

Well, as I stated at the start of this "new look" Cher Ami, my historical ramblings have been moved from my Publisher’s Corner to this venue. For this one time, the historical comments will be repeated here and in the current Publisher’s Corner ("One if by Land, Two if by Sea"). Try, try as you might, you cannot avoid this story. Regarding my comments in the previous Publisher’s Corner ("The Lost Symphony of the Lost Cause"), my old college roomie, Nolan Bond, saw fit to share some "Rebel Yell" stories with me and I am repeating them here for your edification. It is only fitting that these stories should reflect Nolan’s extensive background with marching bands and unreconstructed relatives.

Nolan's first tale goes back, as surprisingly few things do, to an outdoor concert. In the late 1800's, John Phillip Sousa and his band were performing in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The show was getting a luke-warm reception although there was enough applause to justify an encore - and what an encore the master showman chose. After "The War", "Dixie" was at first legally banned and, even after the ban was lifted, the once beloved tune fell dormant. Not that day! As one of the finest marching bands of all time crashed into the original Rebel Rouser, a shocked silence fell over the crowd for about eight bars. Then, all hades (we regard ourselves as a family company) broke loose. From somewhere in the crowd came the ululating signature sound of the Rebel Yell. As it floated over the strains of Dixie, another joined it and another until the downtown square was echoing with the spine-tingling mixture of the song and the yell. Old grey-bearded men who had pushed forward at Gettysburg in the certain knowledge of their impending death and stared into the smoking pit at Petersburg wept openly and hugged their equally emotional comrades. It was a moment to remember!

Nolan's own experience with the Rebel Yell was with a particularly recalcitrant great-great-uncle at a family reunion who swore that, on a good day, he could stand on his back porch and launch a yell that would roll down across the hollow and over the highway and make passing Yankee tourists take to the ditch. Unfortunately, on the day Nolan met him, it was not a good day, so Nolan will go to his reward only able to imagine that sound. Another lost opportunity.

Nolan can read and score music but this is the best he can do to render a Rebel Yell: "YEEEEEE HAAAAAW! YIP, YIP, YIP! YEEEEEE HAAAAAW!" I remain tone deaf and unconvinced.

In keeping with my wayward determination to include some history, I will delve further into another bit of obscure Confederate lore with the Disneyesque story of "Old Juley". "Old Juley" was a member of the First Missouri Brigade, which was arguably the best infantry brigade in Dixie’s western armies. As members of the Missouri militia, many of the brigade’s members fought at Wilson’s Creek and Pea Ridge before they were formally organized and mustered into the Confederate service and then they were in the thick of the fighting at the Battle of Corinth, the Vicksburg campaign, the Atlanta campaign and the disastrous Franklin/Nashville campaign. The last few hundred members of the brigade ran into some very tough and determined black Union troops near Mobile, Alabama in April 1865 and only a few of the Missourians ever made it back to the "Show Me" state.

"Old Juley" was the most celebrated member of the First Missouri Brigade but was not, as you may have guessed, one of its hard-fighting and/or hard-drinking officers. Instead, "Old Juley" had four legs and was an amazingly beloved mule. Robert J. Williams (1825 – 1902), who had served with Alexander Doniphan’s legendary 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteers (the equally legendary Doniphan was offered a general’s star by both the North and the South but chose to remain a civilian in the Civil War) during the Mexican War, was a major in the brigade’s 3rd Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment and owned the mule, who was originally used to haul around the major’s personal belongings. "Old Juley" was a sweet-tempered animal and soon became the regimental mascot. The beast was so popular that, amazingly, he survived the siege of Vicksburg, where the soldiers were reduced to eating rats and a meal of fresh mule meat must have looked mighty good, indeed. "Old Juley" served through the entire war and returned to Missouri with Williams after the war, where he was a minor celebrity wherever he appeared. Unlike the beloved mounts of Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson, "Old Juley" managed to avoid being stuffed and placed on display (apparently a practice confined to Virginia) when he went to his final reward, so he has been largely forgotten. The major obviously thought well of his mule and was, at his request, eventually buried in his family’s cemetery plot right next to "Old Juley".

NEW!!

SERGEANTS! - SCENARIO BOOKLET

This booklet is chock-full of 23 new scenarios for the SERGEANTS! On the Eastern Front and SERGEANTS! In the Sand games and many scenarios that use parts of both games. There are variants on published scenarios and totally new and different scenarios. The British fight the Italians and Germans in Africa, Sicily and Italy. The Soviets fight the Germans and Italians in the Soviet Union. The Germans fight the Soviets in the Soviet Union, the British in Africa and Italy and the Italians (who changed sides in 1943) in Italy. Try to escape a British trap with General "Electric Whiskers," face enraged Cossacks, search for the turncoat in your midst, face a German "uber-sniper" and endure other challenges too perilous to mention. These scenarios recreate incidents from years of combat as small skirmishes between various opposing forces commanded by sergeants and other noncommissioned officers. This Scenario Booklet also includes Mapboards Two, Three and Four (which have been downloadable on our website), which are now available here professionally printed along with the brand-new Mapboard Six. You must own at least one of the SERGEANTS! games in order to play any of the scenarios in this booklet and it is best to own both. YOU command one side. They’re YOUR men. Can YOU face the challenges of personal combat and defeat the enemy? Of course YOU can and the price is only $10.95.