Proof that Lincoln was a music-lover?

[RJNorton]

Gene, here is what I have on "Dixie." Lincoln asked the band to play "Dixie" twice in the days before the assassination. On the evening of April 8, while aboard the River Queen, Lincoln asked the band director to play "Dixie" and remarked "That tune is now federal property." He went on to say, "it's good to show the rebels that, with us in power, they will be free to hear it again." A couple of days later, in Washington, Lincoln again asked the band to play "Dixie." This time Lincoln said it's "one of the best tunes I have ever heard" and he joked that he had a legal opinion from the Attorney General that the song was "a lawful prize since we fairly captured it."