Why is nickname Heart of Dixie?

Alabama got its “Heart of Dixie” nickname at the beginning of the American Civil War when Jefferson Davis, president of the confederate government praised Alabama saying it was "the very Heart of Dixie" as the state contributed so well.

Another theory dates back to 1860-1861 to a popular minstrel song entitled Dixie written by Dan Emmett about his time living in Dixie (New York slang for the Southern United States), which was adopted for the Southern cause during the United States' Civil War