Over the years we've played for many barn dances and dress balls, often to hundreds and even thousands of soldiers and their ladies, not to mention Robert Duvall and the cast of Gods and Generals. But our favorite events have always been small, intimate evening concerts around the campfire that remind us of our origins as a group of infantrymen, entertaining our brother soldiers after a long, hard, hot day of (simulated) fighting with songs of the war, home and hearth, ladyfolk, strong drink, gambling, good fun, and life in the South.
But for many years our grand finale has been two powerful songs: Southern Soldier and Dixie. The uninitiated might be quite shocked at Southern Soldier's chorus of "KILL that Yankee soldier!". But that was after all the stated purpose of the more than one million Americans, who through the grace of God, were born south of the Mason-Dixon line, and therefore felt compelled to leave their homes and families to defend the security of their own free state and sister states - as alluded to in the Second Amendment - against what they saw as an armed invasion by a tyrannical collection of northern states determined to corrupt by force the country our founding fathers created (not to mention a heavily armed band of boys in blue likewise determined to "kill that REBEL soldier!”).
We feel the song, written shortly after the war, clearly relates the feelings, concerns and determination of the southern American soldiers we've tried to faithfully portray for 30 years.
“Dixie”, one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite songs, needs no introduction. Here are both songs, presented by us in the spirit of fun, nostalgia and education. As the sun slowly set over the many rows of tents covering the Virginia hillside, just as they did when Jubal Early launched the surprise attack that started the Battle of Cedar Creek, a brilliant full moon slowly rose over our heads, helping to illuminate the camp. At this time, we experienced one of the few instances in our many years in the hobby where we felt we could have actually been present in an original scene from the war - although not a setting of hatred, violence and carnage, but one of merriment, comradeship and devotion to our American homeland; universal themes all the world can relate to .
Joe "Hawkeye" Whitney,
2nd South Carolina String Band