In the American Cilvil war, why was one side called the yankees?

Question

I don't know which side ( north or south) it was that was called the yankees but why were they called that?

Answer 1

It was the North. The New England Colonial settlers were called Yankees from the 1750's
onwards. No one truly knows why but there are a number of theories, the most elegant being that Dutch settlers called all the English settlers "John" as a form of contempt. The Dutch word for John is Janke, pronounced "Yahn-kee". The term Yankee became a positive term during the American Revolution, when the song "Yankee Doodle" was made popular. However, the southern Confederate States in the Civil Wars called the entire Northern Army "damned Yankees". They resented the United States' interference with their States rule, primarily because of the economic hardship that would ensue if the Federal Government banned slavery.

Answer 2

Yankee was the way that some of the upstate New York Indians pronounced the French word for the word for the English, Anglais. It could also have been the way the Dutch pronounced this word, as they heard it from the Indians in the French and INdian War. New Englanders were originally called Yankees. The British and their loyalist allies called the American revolutionaries Yankees, as in the song "Yankee Doodle", which was originally sung as a put-down of the soldiers of comparatively incompetent Continental Army.

In the US Civil War, the Northern troops were called "Yankees".

Answer 3

The north were called yankees, the south, the rebs.

The term Yankee traditionally refers to Americans from New England whose ancestors arrived from Great Britain before 1700; by extension it is applied to any resident of the Northeast (New England, Mid-Atlantic, and upper Great Lakes states), to any Northerner during and after the American Civil War, or to other citizens of the United States

Answer 4

The North were called 'Yankees', sometimes 'Billy Yank', but the name 'Yankee' had been used before the Civil War. The South were called 'Rebs', sometimes 'Johnny Reb', since they were fighting a rebellion against the North.

Answer 5

North

Answer 6

I just think its a name they got and its the North side that were called that. Its a term they called the people from New England.