Dixie

His song “Dixie,” written in 1859, was originally a “walk-around,” or concluding number for a minstrel show. It attained national popularity and was later the unofficial national anthem of the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861–65) and of the South thereafter. Several sets of words, Northern…

Daniel Decatur Emmett wrote “Dixie” for Bryant’s Minstrels, who first performed it in New York, probably in the late fall of 1859. The song soon reverberated through the land: people clapped their hands to it; soldiers in both the North and the South sang…

…To arms! To arms, in Dixie! Lo! all the beacon-fires are lighted— Let all hearts be now united! To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie! Advance the flag of Dixie! Hurrah! Hurrah! For Dixie’s land we take our stand, And live or die for Dixie! To arms! To arms!…

…popularized by the song “Dixie,” composed in 1859 by Daniel Decatur Emmett. The tune was popular as a marching song of the Confederate army, and it was often considered the Confederate anthem.