'One Saturday night in 1859, when Dan Emmett was a member of Bryant's Minstrels at Mechanics' Hall, New York, Dan [Bryant] said to Emmett: "Can't you get us up a walk-around dance? I want something new and lively for next Monday night." At that date, and for a long time after, minstrel shows used to finish up the evening performance with a walk-around dance, in which the whole company would participate. The demand for this especial material was constant, and Dan Emmett was the principal composer of all, especially for the Bryant Minstrels. Emmett, of course, went to work, and, as he had done so much in that line of composition, he was not long in finding something suitable. At last he hit upon the first two bars, and any composer can tell you how good a start that is in the manufacture of a melody. The next day, Sunday, he had the words commencing "I wish I was in Dixie." This colloquial expression is not, as most people suppose, a Southern phrase, but first appeared among the circus men in the North. In early fall, when nipping frost would overtake the tented wanderers, the boys would think of the genial warmth of the section they were heading for and the common expression would be, "Well, I wish I was in Dixie." This gave the title or catch line; the rest of the song was original. On Monday morning the song was rehearsed and highly recommended, and at night, as usual, the house was crowded and many of the auditors went home singing "Dixie." The song soon became the rage and several other minstrel organizations ... applied to Emmett for copy and privilege of using it.... Not only was Emmett robbed of the copyright, but the authorship of it was disputed as well.' In secession days the song was branded in the North as a Rebel song, and a Maine editor attacked Emmett as a Secessionist. It next bobbed up in New Orleans in 1861 as a 'Zouave march' in 'Pocahontas,' appropriated for the occasion by Carlo Patti, the brother of the prima donna, who acted as conductor. When the war broke out, the Washington Artillery had it arranged as a quick-step and soon 'saloons, parlors, and the streets rang with the Dixie air.' The contagious nature of the tune easily accounts for its rapid spread and ultimate universal popularity. It is undoubtedly the most original of all American national songs.