April 2, 1865 – “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” - Explanation

April 02, 2011 April 2, 1865 – “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” In September 1969, The Band released the great self-titled album that includes what became one of their most famous songs, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Like any of The Band’s songs, it was written by lead guitarist Robbie Robertson. The haunting lyrics tell a tale about the end of the American Civil War, as recalled by a common Confederate soldier and farmer. Sung plaintively by Levon Helm, the song begins with these well known words: “Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train, ‘Til Stoneman’s cavalry came and tore up the tracks again. In the winter of ‘65, we were hungry, just barely alive. By May the 10th, Richmond had fell, it’s a time I remember oh so well. The night they drove Old Dixie down...” On The Band’s website, there’s an interesting in-depth article about the song’s lyrics, compiled by teacher, author and music historian Peter Viney. As it notes, Richmond had indeed already fallen by May 10th. But that’s not the date when Richmond fell. Richmond, Virginia — the capital of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War — actually fell to Union troops on the night of April 2, 1865. That night was, in many ways, the death knell for the Confederacy and the metaphorical “night they drove Old Dixie down.” The fall of Richmond came after a long siege that started in 1864. During those months, Union Army General George Stoneman’s troops repeatedly tore up the Danville tracks and other railroad lines into the city to keep supplies from reaching Confederate soldiers and civilians. Meanwhile, as ordered by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the top Union commander, Gen. Phil Sheridan laid waste to the farmland surrounding Richmond. In The Penguin Book of The American Civil War, historian Bruce Catton wrote: “A Federal army trying to take Richmond could never be entirely secure until the Confederates were deprived of all use of the (fertile and productive) Shenandoah Valley, and it was up to Sheridan to deprive them of it. Grant’s instructions were grimly specific. He wanted the rich farmlands so thoroughly despoiled that the place could no longer support a Confederate army; he told Sheridan to devastate the whole area so thoroughly that a crow flying across the Valley would have to carry its own rations. This Sheridan set out to do…Few campaigns in the war aroused more bitterness than this one.” By late March of 1865, Confederate troops and citizens in Richmond were literally starving. It was clear the city would soon fall. So, on April 2, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, his Cabinet, and most of the remaining Confederate troops and civilians abandoned Richmond and fled south. They called it “Evacuation Sunday.” Confederate soldiers were ordered to set fire to the armories and warehouses they left behind. The fires spread, setting Richmond ablaze and devastating large areas of the city. The “Fall of Richmond” led to a rapidly unfolding downward spiral for the South. By April 9, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. On May 5, the Confederate Government was dissolved. The Civil War was officially over. However, two final war-related events did occur on the May 10th date noted in The Band’s song. On May 10, 1865, Union troops captured Jefferson Davis in Georgia. By that date, most Confederate troops had laid down their arms and accepted the amnesty terms offered by President Abraham Lincoln. But there were a few die-hards, like the notorious “Bushwhacker” William Quantrill, who kept up a guerrilla-style fight. On May 10, 1865, Quantrill was ambushed by Union troops in Kentucky and fatally wounded. He lingered for almost a month before he finally died on June 6.