To scatter, to flee from an enemy. The word, which is of uncertain origin, came into use in the early days of the civil war.
1861. No sooner did the traitors discover their approach than they skedaddled, a phrase the Union boys up here apply to the good use the seceshers make of their legs in time of danger.—Corresp. of Missouri Democrat, Aug. (Bartlett).
1862. Skadaddle is a newly-invented word, now greatly in vogue among our brave soldiers on the Potomac. It is equivalent to the verb to “absquatulate,” and is like that other army verb [to vamose] which our soldiers brought from their campaign in Mexico.—Oregon Argus, Jan. 18.
1862. Where is the accuser of that committee? I hope he has not skadaddled after making his speech.—Mr. B. F. Wade of Ohio, U.S. Senate, April 21: Cong. Globe, p. 1736/2.
1862. The term “skedadle” is a legitimate derivation from the Greek verb skedassa or skedazo: perfect tense, eskedaka: meaning to rout or disperse.—Rocky Mountain News, Denver, May 10.
1862. When the old secessionists tried to chase [the Israelites] the Lord opened the Red Sea, and told them to skedaddle.—Nashville Union, n.d.
1862. Truxton shot one of ’em, but that put the infernals in the rest, an the old feller had to ‘skedaddle,’ as they say in these days.—Seba Smith, ‘Letters of Major Jack Downing,’ Aug. 14.
1862. See Appendix XIV.
1863. “Skedaddle” would not apply to a body of troops scattering [?] though its common (vulgar) definition in parts of Britain, where it is said to have originated, applied primarily to the act of potatoes, apples, &c., falling from carts.—Rocky Mountain News, Jan. 29.
1863. The rebel provisional government of Kentucky,… after the battle of Shiloh [was] skedaddling round through West Virginia and East Tennessee, without a local habitation, but with more name than it was entitled to.—Mr. G. H. Yeaman of Ky., House of Repr., Feb. 26: Cong. Globe, p. 128/2, App.
1863. Dame Rumor says our skedaddlers have been heard from, and that they are in Canada, sawing wood for a colored family for their board.—Lorain County News, n.d.
1863.
| He said his headquarters were in the saddle, | |
| But Stonewall Jackson made him skedaddle. | |
Soldiers’ Song: J. D. Billings, ‘Hardtack and Coffee,’ p. 71 (1889). |
1885. There, sir, you will likely recognize that; it is the sword of one of your officers who skedaddled off that Indian mound.—Admiral D. D. Porter, ‘Incidents of the Civil War,’ p. 164.
