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"Dixie" was written by Daniel Decatur Emmett of Mount Vernon, Ohio, and premiered in September of 1859 in New York.
Although best known as the song adopted by the Confederacy, "Dixie" was also Abraham Lincoln's favorite song, and it was played at his inauguration. Even though Abe Lincoln loved and supported the song, Dan Emmett was ostracized in the North for writing a song associated with the South.
And although the song is credited to Emmett, there is some questions about its full origin. Emmett had indicated that the melody was partially inspired by a tune his mother sung to him as a child, while others believe a similar tune was sung around plantations and around the Mississippi River for several generations. In the original version shown for the second line of the first verse below, the words "cinnamon seed and sandy bottom" were referred to by the soldiers when they reached an area in Missouri where they found catfish and sassafras for tea for sale.
Hardly a stereotypical "Yankee" if you ask me.......
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