Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a derog. term for a native of the Southern states.

1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1929		V.W. Saul ‘Vocab. of Bums’ in AS IV:5 344: Rebel—A Southerner.
1936		Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 582: A Texan is a long-horn, a Southerner is a rebel.
c.1943		‘Bill O. Lading’ You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Rebel: Southern girl.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 175/2: Rebel. (P) A Southerner.
1956		J. Blake letter 3 Aug. in Joint (1972) 84: I should have suspected something from the attitude of the rich rebels that haunt the joint.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 64: They stood and shouted and hundreds simultaneously broke into ‘Dixie’. I’m no rebel lover but it was one of the most stirring scenes I had ever seen.