unpopular. The fiddle tune carrying his name needed a new title.
In the summer of 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg, went on the offensive. He overran Tennessee and nearly captured Kentucky. The rapidity of his advance overwhelmed the opposing Union commanders, but his victory was brief. Defeated at Perryville, Kentucky. Bragg was forced to retreat across much of the ground he had gained.
Forked Deer is the quintessential Old Timey tune. Originally called Vanburen, it most likely originated as a campaign tune during the presidential election of 1836.
Martin Vanburen had been Attorney General of New York, U.S. Senator, Governor of New York, Secretary of State, and Vice President during Andrew Jackson's second term. He became the 8th President of the United States in 1837.
His contmporaries thought highly of him. Washington Irving said he was one of the gentlest and most amiable men I have ever met. Andrew Jackson said he was a true man with no guile.
Posterity has been less kind. He is mostly remembered for the dismal human rights record of his administration, i.e., the forced relocation of the Cherokee Indians, extending slavery into the Western Territories and the Amistad incident.
By the time of the Civil War Vanburen's association with Andrew Jackson and his politics of compromise had made him very
He made a stand at Murfreesboro (a.k.a. Stone's River) on December 31, 1862 and January 2, 1863, but was forced to withdraw again.
This failed campaign became known in the North as Bragg's Retreat. It provided the new name for the tune Vanburen. At some point after the Civil War political correctness in the south led to renaming the tune Forked Deer. It is one of the best examples of how good tunes survive regardless of contemporary associations.
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