Dixie

Dixie or Dixieland is an American expression, which means the Southern states of America, particularly those who fought for the Confederacy in the US Civil War (1861-65). Originally, Dixie referred only to New Orleans and derived from the time when Louisiana became part of the United States in the early 19th century after having been purchased from the French. At this time, one of the New Orleans banks issued ten-dollar notes printed in English on one side and French on the other. On the latter, in large letters was the French word for ten, dix. Dixie became synonymous with the South only after Daniel Decatur Emmett’s famous song Dixie, written in 1859, became the battle hymn of the Confederacy.