Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815 - 1904) was an American composer, entertainer, and founder of the Virginia Minstrels. He is most remembered as the composer of the song "Dixie". He was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, then a frontier region. His grandfather, Rev. John Emmett (1759–1847), had been born in Cecil County, Maryland, and after serving as a private in the American Revolutionary War and fighting at the Battle of White Plains in New York and later in Delaware, became a Methodist minister in the then-vast frontier of Augusta County, Virginia, and then moved across the Appalachian Mountains to Licking County, Ohio and also served in the Ohio legislature representing Pickaway County, Ohio in the Scioto River valley.

His father, Abraham Emmett (1791–1846), served as a private in the War of 1812 while his father served in the Ohio legislature. Notwithstanding his grandfather's career, Dan had little formal education. He learned popular tunes from his musical mother, and taught himself to play the fiddle. At age 13, Emmett became apprenticed to a printer and in 1836, when he was 21, enlisted in the United States Army. He became an expert fifer and drummer at Newport Barracks, Newport, Kentucky.

Emmett was a Catholic and married Catharine Rives in 1853 in New York City, and they remained together until her death in 1875. Four years later, Emmett married Mary Bird (or Browner) in Chicago, Illinois; Emmett did not have children. After receiving his discharge from the army on July 8, 1835, Emmett joined a Cincinnati circus. In 1840–1842 he toured with Angevine and other circuses as a blackface banjoist and singer. In association with Billy Whitlock, Dick Pelham, and Frank Brower, he organized the Virginia Minstrels, which made their first appearance before a paying audience at the Chatham Theatre in New York City in 1843. Other songs produced in the pre-Civil War era were "The Boatman's Dance (Oh! Boatman, Haste!)," "Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel," "The Blue-Tail Fly" (a.k.a. “Jimmy Crack Corn") and “Dixie.”

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Emmett).

Although originally composed for Mixed Chorus (Solo Soprano, 2 Tenors & Bass) & Piano, I created this Arrangement of "The Boatman's Dance (Oh! Boatman, Haste!) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).