Macarthy made a breakthrough in his prewar career in 1859, when he began touring Arkansas with what he called ‘personation concerts.’ These shows featured Macarthy imitating people with various dialects. On September 8, 1860, an article in the Arkansas Gazette lauded the performer as one of the most versatile and accomplished actors of the day. ‘His dialect, acting and delineation of characters are true to the life,’ the article stated, explaining that he ‘embraced a range and variety which we have never seen equaled by one man. As a ballad singer he is among the best we ever listened to, and in presenting Yankee, Irish, English, Dutch, French, and Negro characters, he reminds one so much of the genuine article that it is difficult to realise the fact that he is only acting.’ Macarthy was so overwhelmed by his reception in Arkansas that he began calling himself the Arkansas Comedian.

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From Arkansas, Macarthy traveled to Mississippi and found still more inspiration waiting for him. He was in Jackson in January 1861, during the state’s secession convention, when the delegates voted to break from the Union. There, he saw a delegate’s wife parading around with a blue flag and was inspired to write the tune that would make him famous.

He wrote several other songs, too, both before and after ‘The Bonnie Blue Flag.’ Among those published during the war were those heralding the Confederate flag, ‘Our Flag and Its Origin,’ also called ‘Origin of the Stars and Bars’; ‘Missouri!’ which urged the Show-Me State to link its fate with the Confederacy; and ‘The Volunteer; or, It Is My Country’s Call,’ which celebrated the South’s victory in the July 1861 First Battle of Manassas.

When the Civil War broke out, Macarthy, still a British citizen, could have traveled north with little difficulty had he chosen to do so. But his loyalties lay with the Confederate cause, so he remained in the South to tour and give concerts in towns, cities, and army camps. The greatest of these events had to be the nearly riotous day in New Orleans.

The following year, 1862, Macarthy’s decision to remain in the South began to have negative consequences. On April 23, he and his wife opened their act once again at the New Orleans Academy of Music. By that time, growing pressure from nearby Union forces had frightened almost every other prominent entertainer out of the city. But the Macarthys decided to stay, expecting, as most of the citizens did, that the Federal gunboats would never get past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, which guarded the strategically critical waterborne entrance to the city. They were wrong, however, and the city fell on April 29, trapping the Macarthys behind enemy lines.

Soon after the fall of New Orleans, Union Major General Benjamin Butler was appointed military governor of Louisiana. Cruel, cunning, and unprincipled–according to the unhappy Confederates under his control, who called him the Beast–the general methodically quashed all signs of civilian resistance. The populace was disarmed. All men and women over the age of 18 were forced to take an oath of allegiance to the Union. Male slaves were encouraged to abandon their former masters and join all-black army regiments. Newspapers were forbidden to print anything unflattering to the Federal government, and every news item had to pass the scrutiny of censors before it could be published. Free assembly became illegal, and singing ‘The Bonnie Blue Flag’ became a treasonable offense. A publishing house owned by Armand Blackmar was demolished for publishing the song, and Blackmar was fined. Macarthy felt it was only a matter of time before he would be arrested, so he began plotting his escape. None of the possibilities he considered seemed viable, however, and success seemed unlikely–until John W. Overall entered the picture.

A resident of New Orleans, Overall had been away from the city when the Federals captured it. Learning of the town’s surrender, he immediately returned, sneaked through Federal lines, and began searching for family members whom he wanted to rescue and take back through enemy lines to Mobile, Alabama. During his search, he met Macarthy.

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