Thread drift - but it wasn't quite "business as usual" for American slave traders while the Royal Navy was harrying the slave trade.

At least in theory, the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed by the United States from 1808, and in 1820 it was defined as piracy, carrying the death penalty. And between 1820 and the Civil War there was a small American African Slave Trade Patrol.

I agree with Irish sergeant about Robertson's song being a lament for the devastated South. But not necessarily for the Confederacy. I was interested to note that while people seem to sing "Like my brother before me I took a rebel stand" what Robertson actually seems to have written is "(I will work the land...)like my brother below me, who took a rebel stand" (below meaning maybe just younger brother, maybe brother in the grave). And that carries a very different meaning.

It's not "the South will rise again", or "I'm a good old rebel" - it's "a plague on both your houses - look what your damn war has done to this country." Very 1969.

Classic stuff Art. Two verses aren't enough.There have to be more.