NightWing, I don't think the poem is directly about the Civil War, but certainly references it bitterly via the allusions to Dixie in the opening line as Dicho and Joe_F referenced back in 2002. Beyond that, I don't see any direct reference to the Civil War. You are right to point out that otherwise the poem is not clearly related to the war. My comments to that effect were moreso comments on the nature of the poetry -- lovey-dovey or religious in nature, vs social or historical commentaries.

In my opinion, the song is an anachronistic but ironic look at former life, somewhat mocking of the vaunted "olden days gone by," so to speak. Your point about rivers is a good one -- I hadn't thought of that. However, if the song is anachronistic like I think, perhaps the references to now-slash-then-gone river systems was another device to give it cachet.

As a note, I found an online edition of The Fugitive and glanced read through the poems a day or so ago. This poem was not found in it, though there is some good material. If you're interested, click here (note, it takes a *loooong* time to download)