Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 21.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

Reaped no benefit.

Pond brought the matter before a musical publishers' convention and settled the question of authorship; but Dan reaped no benefit from this tardy justice. Emmett got into trouble about his song during the war. It was considered a rebel song, and a sapient Maine editor declared Dan to be a ‘Secesh,’ and that he should be treated as one, although ‘Dixie’ was written two years before the commencement of the war, and as originally written there was not a line that could be charged with any political hearing. The crowning popularity [214] of this well-known ditty was secured in New Orleans in the spring of 1861, when Mrs John Wood played an engagement at the Varieties Theatre. ‘Pocahontas,’ by John Brougham, was the attraction, and in the last scene a zouave march was introduced. Carlo Patti, brother of Adalina Patti, was the leader of the orchestra. At the rehearsal Carlo was at a loss as to what air to appropriate.