Origins: Kiss All the Southern Ladies

Subject: Origins: Kiss All the Southern Ladies
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 08:24 PM

A short little ditty I found recently which I'd never seen before. As printed in True tales of the South at war (ed. Clarence Poe), p. 76. It seems to be fairly obscure.

"According to Mrs. A. M. Lyons of Texas, the invasion of Richmond was a catastrophe to Southern adults but the children loved to watch the Yankee troops pass down the streets while they (the children) would sing:

Wrap me in a rebel flag and lay me by Jeff Davis,
Give my love to General Lee and kiss the rebel ladies."

This was printed in 1961 but was likely collected before then; unfortunately, no source was given

Similarly, I found this copy of The [McKinney, Tex.] Democrat, April 24th, 1902, p. 1 (link). Having recently received a reproduction copy of the July 4th, 1863 edition of the Vicksburg Citizen, reportedly the last published edition of the paper before the capture of Vicksburg, The Democrat reprinted excerpts from the paper, which included the following similar song:

"Wrap me in a secesh flag,
Bury me with Jeff Davis,
Give my love to General Lee,
And kiss all the Southern ladies."

Similar lines were repeated in The Lost Cause: A Confederate War Record, Vol. IX, No. 3 (April 1903), p. 40 and in Reminisces by Robert M. Howard (1912), p. 320

Subject: RE: Origins: Kiss All the Southern Ladies
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 08:25 PM

I should mention, no publication gave a titled except Reminisces, which called it "A Confederate Ditty." I chose the title I used arbitrarily