Thomas Seay
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> While it's true that the
> North & Lincoln
> weren't anti-racist and anti-slavery except when it was convenient,
> that doesn't really matter for talking or singing about Dixie today.
Depends on who you are talking about. Many white soldiers fighting for the North still recalled the feudalism/unfree labor of Europe and were indeed anti-slavery. Then there were black soldiers in the Union army, too. Also, dont forget there were even marxists in the union army. Wedemeyer (sp) was in it, I believe.
I dont know the history of this song. While I dont see that it is explicitly racist, it does seem kindred to these artforms (like "Gone with the Wind") or movements (like John Crowe Ransom and "the Fugitives") to mythologize and glorify the "Old South" and therefore could be considered racist in that way.
On the other hand, it could be argued that it is the ballad of one man's bitter personal experience after a horrible war. To make something of an analogy, I mean, there are the stories of certain Red Army soldiers raping german women when they swept through Nazi germany. One can imagine that a woman who suffered this would have a bitter memory of that event, but a song to that effect would not necessarily be a political condemnation of the Soviet Union's efforts, would it? In like manner, if this song is seen as just the tale of one man's personal experience then it is not necessarily a condemnation per se of Reconstruction or necessarily a glorification of the "Old South".
-Thomas
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I don't think the song is nostalgic for Robert E. Lee at all. I see it this way:
The story is told by Virgil Cain at some point long after the fact. It begins with VC relating his state at the end of the war: he served on the Danville train (either as a civilian railroad worker, or as a Confederate solider guarding the train), which was the main supply line for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia that was entrenched in front of Richmond. In the March of 1865, the Union Cavalry under General George Stoneman (which modeled its tactics on those employed by Nathan Bedford Forest's raiders) finally succeeded in destroying the track. This lead to widespread hunger among the civilian population, and it also helped force Lee's army out of its defensive position in front of Richmond, which fell to the Union troops in early April. "By May 10th Richmond had fell," and so had the rest of the Confederacy: that was the day that Jefferson Davis was captured and also the day President Johnson announced to end of armed resistance by the forces of the seceding states.
VC then returns to the beginning of the war (Lee's activity in Eastern Tennessee occurred early in the war, before he assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia - and if I recall correctly, the hill country of Eastern Tennessee was an enclave of Union support and anti-slavery sentiment populated mainly by small farmers like the Cains). Lee's troops come by VC's farm and no doubt begin requisitioning supplies, offering to pay for them in worthless Confederate script. VC is indifferent, if not fatalistic: he doesn't share his wife's enthusiasm to catch a glimpse of Lee (although Lee had not yet attained the fame and celebrity that he later did) - he has work to do and he simply tells the soldiers to "take what you need, and leave the rest" (the soldiers are going take what they want anyway, so he may as well go along with the program). They do this, but the also take "the very best" - VC's young brother, who is soon killed by "a Yankee." Thus, for VC the whole war has been pointless waste from beginning to end. It wasn't his fight, but he suffered along with everyone else. His brother's pride and courage simply brought him an early grave and "you can't raise a Cain back up when he's in defeat"; i.e., VC's brother and those like him died for a cause that has been snuffed out, never to be revived. The night that old Dixie is driven down is a night for celebration and singing: finally, the war is over. And I need only briefly mention the significance of Virgil Cain's name: A narrator who sings of arms and the man, a survivor of a defeated nation, who carries the mark of Cain for raising his hand against "brother." I get the impression that "Virgil Cain" regretted ever laying eyes on Robert E. Lee.
I recall once reading that Robbie Robertson wrote the song after his first extended stay in the south, and he was amazed at the lingering relevance of the Civil War for many white southerners. Levon Helm explained the situation to him, and Robertson wrote the song in response to this experience. I also recall that Robertson said that originally the song contained a verse about Lincoln's assassination, but Helm suggested that they remove any reference to Lincoln if they wanted to get any airplay in the South - which was a confirmation of Robertson's original impression.