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Ranked as one of the top 100 western songs ever written, this successful minstrel song, dating to the early 1850's, first appeared in 1853 Philadelphia, in a collection of minstrel songs titled, “Christy's Plantation Melodies No. 2“, but without musical notation or naming the writer. Later, in 1858, it was published by Firth, Pond & Co., of New York city, this time with revised lyrics, a piano score, and crediting a certain “J.K.“ as the writer. As a minstrel love song, the singer, an African-American young man, tells of his desire to return to find his lady love in Texas, his 'yellow rose'. During the War Between the States, the song gained widespread popularity with Southern troops. It was the favorite marching song of General John Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1864, General Hood was promoted to command the Army of Tennessee. After the disastrous battles of Franklin and Nashville, remnants of Hood’s Army limped back to Georgia and to their former commander General “Uncle Joe” Johnston. During this march the soldiers added a verse to the song summing up their recent campaign ordeals.
