Frank Proffitt sang it for five or six of us in a third floor out of the way alcove of Ida Noyes Hall at the first University Of Chicago Folk Festival in 1961. It was his first trip to the North -- came with Frank Warner. Frank had mentioned the song to a student a couple of days earlier but wouldn't sing it in a concert as he took the song seriously, we thought, and also did not want to offend his Northern hosts and audience. We prodded him into singing the song but he only did it in this secluded and location. It was an emotional moment for Mr. Proffitt----and it became one for those of us lucky enough to be there for that amazing moment. I'll never forget it.

I was truly surprised to hear folks say here that "THE UNRECONSTRUCTED REBEL" (as we called it) was a parody of anything and less than a totally serious musical commentary by a Confederate rebel soldier who believed everything he said in his song which was really an emotional outburst.

Art Thieme