Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train
Till Stonemans Cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
I took the train to Richmond that fell
It was a time I remember, oh, so well
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singin'
They went, "Na, na, na"
Back with my wife in Tennessee and one day she said to me
"Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee"
Now I don't mind, I'm chopping wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
Just take what you need and leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best
Follow the bouncing arm
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singin'
They went, "Na, na, na"
Like my father before me, I'm a working man
And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand
But he was just 18, proud and brave
But a yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the blood below my feet
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singin'
They went, "Na, na, na"
This is supposedly sung by a Confederate southern small-holding farmer, who probably owned no slaves, but stayed loyal to his state's and region's politics. He'd fought in the "Danville train" (whatever that was), and was either released from the army or deserted, because now, by the end of the war, he's back with his wife on their farm in Tennessee. By this time, 1865, there was barely enough food to keep them alive, and he didn't begrudge the retreating Confederate troops a share, but he did resent them taking the best, or possibly the most of the little they had. He's proud of continuing the traditions of his father, and he's proud but still mourns his brother, fighting for their Cause but killed by a Yankee. And now he's also mourning the death of their ''Noble Cause", as Richmond, the capitol has fallen and General Sherman of the Union Army is burning his way through Georgia to the sea: i.e. "the night they burned old Dixie down".