The War Between the States forever changed the face of the South, and all of its history is measured in relation to the four years of strife that effectively ended an era. To this day, the name of William Tecumseh Sherman inspires anger in the hearts of Southerners, whose ancestors witnessed his march to the sea. With a contingent of 100,000 men, Sherman cut a wide swath from Virginia to Georgia, laying waste to the land and burning Atlanta to the ground. The years that followed saw the struggle to rebuild a devastated economy under the Union occupation and carpetbag rule. The South did recover, however slowly, but reminders of the War are everywhere, from battlefields to Confederate flags to holidays honoring Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.

Guilford Courthouse - Located in Greensboro, NC The battle fought here on March 15, 1781, was the largest, most hotly-contested action of the Revolutionary War's climactic Southern Campaign. The serious loss of British manpower suffered at Guilford Courthouse foreshadowed final American victory at Yorktown, seven months later.

Alamance Battleground On this North Carolina site in 1771, an armed rebellion of back country farmers—called Regulators—battled against royal governor William Tryon's militia.

"He gave the Regulators a choice—to return peacefully to their homes or be fired upon. They had one hour to decide. After the hour was up Tryon sent an officer to receive their reply. 'Fire and be damned!' was their answer. The governor then gave the order, but his men hesitated. Rising in his stirrups, he shouted, 'Fire! Fire on them or on me!' The militia obeyed, the Regulators responded in kind, and the battle of Alamance was on."
— from The War of the Regulation and the Battle of Alamance by William S. Powell

I don't know if it's still done, but when I was growing up in North Carolina - early 1950s to the late 1970s anyway - whenever the song "Dixie" was played (which was often), everyone would stand with their hands over their hearts and sing loud with tears in their eyes. Once the Black Watch from Scotland came to the University in Raliegh for a performance and they were playing Celtic music which everyone enjoyed, but then suddenly switched mid-march to "Dixie". The place exploded!!!

Victories of the Heart- by "A Confederate Soldier's Wife"

There's not a stately hall,
There's not a cottage fair,
That proudly stands on Southern soil,
Or softly nestles there,
But in its peaceful walls
With wealth or comfort blessed,
A stormy battle fierce hath raged
In gentle woman's breast.

There Love, the true, the brave,
The beautiful, the strong,
Wrestles with Duty, gaunt and stern,
Wrestles and struggles long.
He falls, no more again
His giant foe to meet;
Bleeding at every opening vein,
Love falls at Duty's feet.

O Daughter of the South!
No victor's crown be thine,
Not thine upon the tented field
In martial pomp to shine;
But with unfaltering trust
In Him who rules on high,
To deck thy loved ones for the fray,
And send them forth to die.

She, the tried, the true,
The loving wife of years,
Chokes down the rising agony,
Drives back the starting tears;
"I yield thee up," she cries,
"In the country's cause to fight;
Strike for our own, our children's home
And God defend the right."

O Daughter of the South!
When our fair land is free,
When peace her lovely mantle throws
Softly o'er land and sea,
History shall tell how thou
Hast nobly borne thy part,
And won the proudest triumph yet
The victory of the heart.

At least since the 1850s the word “Dixie” had been used to refer to the southern states. Historians do not agree unanimously on where the term originated. One logical explanation points to the Mason-Dixon line which divided North and South along the Pennsylvania border. Still another explanation is in the printing of certain Louisiana currency (the federal government was not in the habit of printing paper money yet) with the French dix for ten. Northerners who did business there were said to come away with “dixies” and soon the region was generally referred to in that way.

The history of the song I Wish I Was in Dixie Land, later shortened to just Dixie, is more certain. It was actually written in 1859 in New York by Ohio born Daniel Decatur Emmet, who performed with Bryant’s Minstrels. Minstrel shows were a popular form of entertainment in which black men, or more likely white men in black face, played banjo, fiddle, tambourine and bones while singing and dancing in what whites believed was authentic “Negro style.” The song was an immediate hit in the North and South. It is said that it was one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite melodies and it was played at the inauguration of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Emmet, meanwhile, sold the rights to the song for $400. During the war Emmet was loyal to the North and spent much time apologizing for writing the song ardently adopted by the Confederacy.